Podcast appearances and mentions of sasha shulgin

In episode 14 of Psychedelic Divas, my guest is Wendy Tucker, daughter of psychedelic pioneer Ann Shulgin, who was married to ground-breaking psychedelic chemist Sasha Shulgin. Wendy shares her extensive history within the psychedelic community, including hosting the infamous Friday Night Dinners that began as a family gathering and evolved into a critical hub for underground psychedelic culture. Wendy discusses Ann and Sasha's legendary work, including Sasha's resynthesis of MDMA along with 200 novel compounds and Ann's seminal therapeutic contributions within the psychedelic community. Wendy also discusses the creation of the Shulgin Foundation, whose goal is to preserve the historic Shulgin Farm and lab, and the ongoing community efforts to maintain this legacy. The conversation touches on Sasha's meticulous process for testing novel compounds, the importance of safe and informed psychedelic use, and the educational work being continued today through the Foundation and other platforms. This episode offers a deep dive into the historical and personal stories that shaped the psychedelic movement.   Learn More About the Shulgins To find out about events at the Shulgin Farm or to contribute to the foundation, go to: ShulginFoundation.org   To order PIHKAL or TIHKAL or other books, check out TransformPress.com   Rent the movies: Dirty Pictures and Better Living Through Chemistry on streaming platforms or view on YouTube   Find the Shulgin Vault at Erowid.org   Connect with Carla If you're inspired by this episode and want to stay connected, follow Carla and Psychedelic Divas on social media or visit the website to get your Psychedelic Safety Guide Including What to Do When Things Go Wrong: ·        Website: PsychedelicDivas.com ·        Carla's Coaching: CarlaDetchon.com ·        Instagram: @psychedelicdivas ·        YouTube: @carladetchon ·        Subscribe & Review: If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, and review Psychedelic Divas. Your support helps amplify these important conversations and grow our community.

In this episode, Joe interviews Howard Kornfeld, MD: renowned pain medicine expert, addiction specialist, early pioneer in psychedelic medicine, and currently the director of recovery medicine at Recovery Without Walls. As a leader in the utilization of buprenorphine, he talks about how it came about as a treatment for addiction and chronic pain, its similarities to MDMA, and how its fast-tracked FDA approval could give us clues on how to get MDMA approved. He also dives into the history of ketamine, its unique effects compared to other substances, its potential for abuse, and what can happen with overuse. And he talks a lot about the connection he sees between psychedelics and the prevention of nuclear war, inspired by Sasha Shulgin's opinion that nothing changes minds faster than psychedelics. He points out that when there is darkness, there is light: Albert Hofmann's famed bicycle trip on acid happened 3 months after the nuclear chain reaction was invented. Can the growing use of psychedelics inspire the kind of change we need to save the world? He also discusses: The need for new study designs as we come to terms with the fact that double-blind studies don't really work with psychedelics Criticisms of the FDA's denial of MDMA: Was the process unfair? His predictions that advocates will begin pushing to decriminalize MDMA at the state level The books, Tripping on Utopia and Drugged How he played a part in prisons ending the practice of killing prisoners with cyanide gas and more!  For links, head to the show notes page. 

SUB TO THE PPM PATREON TO ACCESS THE EPIC, 4 HOUR LONG SECOND INSTALLMENT IN THE "MHCHAOS AGENTS & JOHNNY ACID-SEEDS" SERIES: patreon.com/ParaPowerMapping Reminder that the PPM Moment of Truth campaign is nearing its conclusion—we've got two & a half weeks remaining to hit that 120 new subs goal. Pls consider supporting the show so that we can keep the Independent Cork Board Researchers Union lights on. Embarking on the longest, strangest trip in PPM history yet- Inside, you'll find a mammoth primary & secondary source assemblage which begins our construction of a deep history of the Columbia Uprising in '68, Students for a Democratic Society, the anti-war movement, the NYC activist milieu, Up Against the Wall Motherfucker, the Watts Rebellion & black urban insurgents in LA, various Black Panther & Black Panther in Exile party members, and the eventual militant SDS splinter group known as the Weather Underground... Zeroing in on all of said groups' targeting by American intel, COINTELPRO FBI informants, Johnny Acid-seeds, & MHChaos Agents... Not to mention the Grateful Dead's sound warlock & psych alchemist Owsley, who was perhaps responsible for more lasting brain damage among the '60s counterculture than any other singular person. He's closely tailed in the record books by Sasha Shulgin, that is, the Father of MDMA & a fellow synthetic drugs proselytizer, whose relationship w/ Owsley we'll peel back in some detail. (Full notes & index on Patreon). This first, "MHCHAOS Agents..." heroic dose and the following are built upon a lattice of excerpts from: John Potash - Drugs As Weapons Against Us David McGowan - Weird Scenes Inside the Canyon Martin A. Lee & Bruce Shlain - Acid Dreams Mark Rudd - Underground: My Life with SDS & Weatherman Tom O'Neill - CHAOS: Charles Manson, the CIA, & the Secret History of the ‘60s Peter Richardson - No Simple Highway: A Cultural History of the Grateful Dead Ron Hahne, Ben Morea - Black Mask & Up Against the Wall Motherfucker and more, including a proverbial bibliotheca of pharmacological research papers, Rolling Stone profiles, STP Family forum postings, New Yorker articles, and a shit ton besides. (Full notes, index, & reading list on Patreon) Tracks & Clips: | The Monks - "Monks Chant" | | The Youngbloods - "Get Together" | | Audio from Merry Prankster Further Bus Tour | | Jerry Garcia Interview ('80s) | | Owsley talks about the Watts Acid Test & Synesthesia | | Malcolm X on the Harlem "Riots" & Police Brutality | | Watts Rebellion Newscast - Today in History | | Watts Rebellion, "Los Angeles After the Rioting" | | Columbia Revolt - Reel America | | Bernadine Dohrn on the Fred Hampton Assassination | | Richard Peel and the Lower East Side - "Up Against the Wall | | "Crisis in the Crowd" documentary program on the Haigh-Ashbury Free Clinic | | 1968 HAFMC news program including interview w/ Dr. David Smith | | Altamont Free Concert - Death of Meredith Hunter scenes from "Gimme Shelter" | | The Flying Burrito Bros. - "Six Days on the Road" (Live at Altamont) | | "Anti-war Demonstrators Storm Pentagon" Broadcast | | Los Barbudos - "The Bearded Men" (Cuban Communist Banger) |

In which we embark on the longest, strangest trip (episode) in PPM's nascent history thus far. Sub to the PPM Patreon to access all FIVE WHOPPING HOURS of this first installment in the companion miniseries to the Potash interview & the thorough index: patreon.com/ParaPowerMapping Inside, you'll find a mammoth primary & secondary source assemblage which begins our construction of a deep history of the Columbia Uprising in '68, Students for a Democratic Society, the anti-war movement, the NYC activist milieu, Up Against the Wall Motherfucker, the Watts Rebellion & black urban insurgents in LA, various Black Panther & Black Panther in Exile party members, and the eventual militant SDS splinter group known as the Weather Underground... Zeroing in on all of said groups' targeting by American intel, COINTELPRO FBI informants, Johnny Acid-seeds, & MHChaos Agents... Not to mention the Grateful Dead's sound warlock & psych alchemist Owsley, who was perhaps responsible for more lasting brain damage among the '60s counterculture than any other singular person. He's closely tailed in the record books by Sasha Shulgin, that is, the Father of MDMA & a fellow synthetic drugs proselytizer, whose relationship w/ Owsley we'll peel back in some detail. (Full notes & index on Patreon). This first, "MHCHAOS Agents..." heroic dose and the following are built upon a lattice of excerpts from: John Potash - Drugs As Weapons Against Us David McGowan - Weird Scenes Inside the Canyon Martin A. Lee & Bruce Shlain - Acid Dreams Mark Rudd - Underground: My Life with SDS & Weatherman Tom O'Neill - CHAOS: Charles Manson, the CIA, & the Secret History of the ‘60s Peter Richardson - No Simple Highway: A Cultural History of the Grateful Dead Ron Hahne, Ben Morea - Black Mask & Up Against the Wall Motherfucker and more, including a proverbial bibliotheca of pharmacological research papers, Rolling Stone profiles, STP Family forum postings, New Yorker articles, and a shit ton besides. Tracks & Clips: | The Monks - "Monks Chant" | | The Youngbloods - "Get Together" | | Audio from Merry Prankster Further Bus Tour | | Jerry Garcia Interview ('80s) | | Owsley talks about the Watts Acid Test & Synesthesia | | Malcolm X on the Harlem "Riots" & Police Brutality | | Watts Rebellion Newscast - Today in History | | Watts Rebellion, "Los Angeles After the Rioting" | | Columbia Revolt - Reel America | | Bernadine Dohrn on the Fred Hampton Assassination | | Richard Peel and the Lower East Side - "Up Against the Wall | | "Crisis in the Crowd" documentary program on the Haigh-Ashbury Free Clinic | | 1968 HAFMC news program including interview w/ Dr. David Smith | | Altamont Free Concert - Death of Meredith Hunter scenes from "Gimme Shelter" | | The Flying Burrito Bros. - "Six Days on the Road" (Live at Altamont) | | "Anti-war Demonstrators Storm Pentagon" Broadcast | | Los Barbudos - "The Bearded Men" (Cuban Communist Banger) |

Dillan DiNardo is the Co-Founder and CEO of Mindstate Design Labs - A Y Combinator-incubated psychedelic drug development company designing altered states of consciousness for mental health therapeutics.Dillan joins us today to talk about his journey to the forefront of the psychedelic drug development space, as well as to provide insight on the immense arena of untapped potential that exists within lesser known classes of various molecules synthesized by the likes of legendary chemist Sasha Shulgin and much more.Please rate and review this podcast wherever you're listening. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Joe interviews Keeper Trout: archivist, author, photographer, co-founder of the Cactus Conservation Institute, and creator of Trout's Notes, a website compiling personal research and collected data to help ethnobotanical researchers. From an interest in cactus taxonomy, Sasha Shulgin urged Trout to go through his files, resulting in a friendship, and eventually, an 8-year project of digitizing all of these files into the ever-evolving Shulgin Archive. Trout discusses: His relationship with Sasha and The Shulgin Farm project, which aims to make the farm a community resource for therapy, research, events, and more The messiness of cactus taxonomy, and how he believes we're nearing the end of being able to properly identify plants The perception of LSD as unnatural and why the natural vs. synthetic argument is largely political Why repealing the Controlled Substances Act is the path we should take over decriminalization or legalization and more! For links and more, head to the show notes page. 

In this episode, Joe interviews Paul F. Daley, Ph.D., who worked with Sasha Shulgin in his lab for the last seven years of his life, helping him finish (and co-authoring) "The Shulgin Index, Volume One: Psychedelic Phenethylamines and Related Compounds." He is now the co-founder, Chief Science Officer, and Director of Analytical Science at the Alexander Shulgin Research Institute (ASRI), focusing on the discovery and development of novel psychedelic compounds. While Sasha was passionate about self-experimentation, the Institute is aiming for the next step for these drugs: FDA approval.   He discusses:  Meeting Sasha at the 2nd international conference on hallucinogenic mushrooms in Washington D.C. Bonding with Sasha while reviewing the autopsy of researcher Robert van den Bosch for possible foul play The two compounds ASRI is closest to being able to test in clinical trials The 5-HT2B receptor, risk of valvular disease, and why we will likely be hearing more about this going forward How AI and new technology can lead to better safety science   and more! Click here to head to the show notes page.

In this episode, released on Ann Shulgin's birthday, Joe interviews Wendy Tucker: Daughter of Ann and Stepdaughter to Alexander “Sasha” Shulgin. Recorded in Sasha's old office, she recounts her formative years, giving an insider's look into her Mother's openness about psychedelics, working with Sasha in the lab, how the Shulgins made a perfect team, and watching a close-knit circle of self-experimenters start to form at Shulgin Farm – and keep coming back over the years. She talks about the energy infused into the property from the decades of research and gatherings, and how she is trying to preserve it – not just to capture its history and the pioneering research that happened there, but as a beacon for future generations. She imagines weddings, conferences, other communal gatherings, and more. Imagine taking a chemistry course in Sasha Shulgin's lab? To learn more about the project and to donate, head to Shulginfarm.org. Click here to head to the show notes page and watch the video.

On Thursday August 6th, 2020 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a review of William Leonard Pickard's magisterial novelized biography “The Rose of Paracelsus”(2019). This 650 page masterwork is already considered literature by the academic community. Like Mallory's “The Morte de Arthur” “The Rose” was entirely written in prison. It recounts Pickard's academic, scientific, and extra-legal career from the early 1960s until his arrest and subsequent imprisonment in 2000. It is beautifully written, fast paced and well structured. It is subtitled “On Secrets and Sacraments” which aptly describes what it delivers. Pickard was not only a psychedelic alchemist, he was also an intelligence asset (say researcher) for the Ivy League think tanks and indirectly for government agents. So conspiracy theory and even UFO buffs will be pulling quotes from The Rose for the next decade. Pickard connected with an international network of psychedelic alchemists and visited each in a world tour that reads like a James Bond adventure. Returning to the U.S. he visited his mentor the venerable psychedelic sage, Sasha Shulgin, who warned him against a demonic cultist who inhabited an abandoned underground missile base used for an LSD laboratory and an orgiastic temple. But like a character in a Richard Shaver or Sax Rohmer story Leonard Pickard was lured into this hellish underworld where psychedelics were used to en-slave and abuse young women.And because this cult had better government connections than Pickard, he was set up to take the rap for their criminal activities. He was given two life sentences in Federal Prison. Fortunately he has just been released and we hope he will be listening to this broadcast. So. Turn on, Tune in, and learn what's under the rose.

Alexander Theodore "Sasha" Shulgin (June 17, 1925 – June 2, 2014) was an American medicinal chemist, biochemist, organic chemist, pharmacologist, psychopharmacologist, and author. He is credited with introducing 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, commonly known as "ecstasy") to psychologists in the late 1970s for psychopharmaceutical use and for the discovery, synthesis and personal bioassay of over 230 psychoactive compounds for their psychedelic and entactogenic potential. In 1991 and 1997, he and his wife Ann Shulgin compiled the books PiHKAL and TiHKAL (standing for Phenethylamines and Tryptamines I Have Known And Loved), from notebooks that extensively described their work and personal experiences with these two classes of psychoactive drugs. Shulgin performed seminal work into the descriptive synthesis of many of these compounds. Some of Shulgin's noteworthy discoveries include compounds of the 2C* family (such as 2C-B) and compounds of the DOx family (such as DOM). Due in part to Shulgin's extensive work in the field of psychedelic research and the rational drug design of psychedelic drugs, he has since been dubbed the "godfather of psychedelics". Original videos ⁠⁠here and here Full Wikipedia entry ⁠⁠here⁠⁠ Sasha Shulgin's books ⁠⁠here --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/theunadulteratedintellect/support

For access to the full Sus Psychedelics, Inc. series and other premium episodes, subscribe to the Al-Wara' Frequency at patreon.com/subliminaljihad. PHASE THREE: RUNNING THE SHOW Dimitri's high school experiences with 2C-B and MDMA, the synchronicity of the Hyphy/Thizz movement sprouting up in Alexander Shulgin's East Bay backyard, the extremely different vibes around drugs in 2005, Dimitri's 2009 documentary about suburban Thizz dealers in the Bay… The origins of the Multidisciplinary Association for Pyschedelic Studies (MAPS), “Early Therapeutic Use of MDMA, 1977-1985”, the Boston Group, Shulgin turning on Lt. Colonel Leo Zeff aka “The Secret Chief” to MDMA in 1977, ARUPA at Esalen, Jungian lay therapist Ann Shulgin, her theory that using MDMA helps you recognize the positive aspects of the totally selfish demon inside you, Chilean Dr. Claudio Naranjo and Sasha Shulgin's collaboration from 1962 onward, Jack Downing's Exuma Island Institute in the Bahamas, Dr. George Greer and his wife Requa Tolbert, Catholic priest Michael Clegg who began selling ecstasy in Dallas night clubs in 1983, Dr. Rick Ingrasci promoting MDMA therapy on Donahue in 1985, Tim Leary's former Harvard research partner Ralph Metzner, Doblin founding the Earth Metabolic Design Laboratories (EMDL) in 1984, Physical Abuse in MDMA-Assisted Psychotherapy, founding MAPS advisors Francesco Di Leo and Rick Ingrasci both losing their therapist licenses for having sex with patients during MDMA sessions… Background on Psychedelic godfather Alexander “Sasha” Shulgin, Shulgin's decades-long relationship with the DEA, his membership at Bohemian Grove, Shulgin's infamous bad vibes concoction STP/DOM, German pharma companies selling 2C-B aka “Nexus” in 1990s South Africa, PHASE FOUR: DIMITRI'S TRIP Dimitri reveals for the first time his journeys with “Gustavo”, a Peruvian shaman to the 0.01% in 2011, getting psyopped by ayahuasca utopianism, and which billionaires were secretly getting EnLiGhTeNeD years before the new corporadelic renaissance hit the mainstream.

Today our episode centers on a talk given at Esalen in 1985 by Dr. Andrew Weil. Dr. Weil is a prominent figure and a trailblazer in the field of integrative medicine, which combines conventional medical practices with alternative and complementary therapies such as herbal medicine, acupuncture, and mind-body techniques. (All of this of course used to be rather fringe; Esalen in the 1980's, was a bit fringe, too. Nowadays, things like acupuncture and herbal medicine raise nary an eyebrow, and Esalen, to be honest, is pretty darn mainstream too.) On this date in 1985, Dr. Weil speaks about various drugs and psychedelics, as well as the cultural attitudes attached to them. Weil to this point had had a curious relationship to psychedelics: in the early 1960s, while a student at Harvard, he observed the infamous Harvard Psilocybin experiments conducted by Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert, and then reported on them in the Harvard Crimson, ultimately leading to the academic downfall and subsequent dismissal of Leary and Alpert. Later in his life, Weil would reconnect with Alpert, who had by then assumed the moniker of Ram Das, and he would finally taste the forbidden fruit, and henceforth become an advocate of psychedelics. Weil speaks a great deal during this talk about the drug MDMA, otherwise known as Ecstasy, which on June 1st of that very year was made illegal and classified as a Schedule 1 substance. MDMA had been widely used as a therapy drug for nearly 15 years since its rediscovery in the 1970s by chemist Sasha Shulgin, but in the early 1980s, it also became quite popular in dance subcultures, particularly in the gay community, and most notably in Dallas, Texas. Of course, in the mid 1980's, Ronald Reagan's war on drugs was raging, and it provided the perfect storm for MDMA to be made unlawful. So given this context, it's both interesting and informative to hear Weil, the former psychedelic whistleblower turned hippie physician, speak at length and quite intelligently about MDMA. He also addresses a host of other topics, including whether or not marijuana causes brain damage, peyote, how DEA scheduling works, the so-called new physics , how belief interacts with the physical mechanisms of the body, hypnotherapy, fire-walking, coffee, chocolate, and more. It's a fun episode. By the way . . . Esalen Institute is a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing human potential and promoting positive social change. Your support helps us continue to offer transformative programs and retreats that promote personal growth and collective wellbeing. To learn more about Esalen and how you can support our mission, visit our website at esalen.org.

It is often fun to bounce ideas between good friends. This conversation with Creon Levit is no different. Creon's interests are vast, but one thing is for certain, he is working towards a better future. Looking at psychedelic use beyond treatment for mental illness, Creon shares with us the notable tech giants, and their possible inspirations, as well as a glimpse into his daily diet and routine.“Your friendship is one of the highlights of my life. And so thank you for everything.”Creon Levit worked for NASA as a research scientist for 32 years doing high performance computing, data visualization, computational aeronautics, quantum chemistry, and spacecraft optics. For the last eight years he has been chief technologist and Director of R&D for Planet Labs - a satellite imaging company that has built, launched, and operates almost 500 earth-imaging satellites.Creon was good friends with Terrence McKenna, Sasha Shulgin, and John C. Lilly and has had a long interest in the intersection between psychedelics and technology.Show notes:* An applied physicist at NASA for 30 years – introducing Creon Levit* Cyber Security and surveillance* Psychedelics and technology* The use of psychedelics for creativity* The fallout for using some of these substances* Whats the big deal in talking about these things?* Are we in planetary conflict?* How Creon changed his physiology ** This is not medical advice- Always seek the advice of your health care provider before undertaking a new health care regimenLinks and references:* Psychedelic Wisdom (Dr. Richard L. Miller)* Psychedelic Medicine (Dr. Richard L. Miller)* Steve Jobs (Walter Isaacson)* How the Hippies Saved Physics (David Kaiser)* Peter Attia: What if we're wrong about diabetes?Want the episode transcript and video? Join our Tribe!Mind Body Health & Politics is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.https://www.mindbodyhealthpolitics.org/subscribe Get full access to Mind Body Health & Politics at www.mindbodyhealthpolitics.org/subscribe

Tonight I'm playing some selections from an amazing collection called "ENTHEOGENS & the Future of Religion": A New Vocabulary-Ann & Sasha Shulgin 7:21 The Psychedelic Society-Terence McKenna 23:00 Sacred Mushroom Pentecost-Thomas J. Riedlinger 1:10:42

In this episode I speak with Author, Physicist, Thinker, and Legendary Journalist.. Luc Sala. Luc and I talk about his multi-faceted life, having had experiences with some of the greatest humans of the modern age. We also talk about the power of identity, the necessity of ritual, and how changing our perspective can change our lives. In his career as journalist, Luc has interviewed legendary humans such as :Tim Leary, Albert Hoffman, Sasha Shulgin, Ram Dass, Terrence McKenna, Ray Kurzweil, and many more.. As an author Luc with JP Barlow, Luc wrote the first ever book on Virtual Reality and many other profound books. A powerful discussion... Drop in!www.lucsala.nl, www.academia.edu --- YouTube: Kleurnet Luc SalaLuc Sala Bio:Luc Sala is a physicist, an information technologist and critical thinker. He believes that just as in the days of Kant and Hume we have to rethink everything, doubt everything and not limit the ‘new philosophy' to critical correlations and analysis of previous thinkers. We have to start afresh, now, here, feel rather than know, intuit rather than de - duce. He says; Let's revive the intuitive wisdom we can and do access all the time, honor the dimensions, worlds and categories beyond the material is tic. Luc believes the “Enlightenment” has in fact closed our eyes to the real light of a transcendent connectedness, and it's time to let go of the fetters of “science.” He has published many books, mostly in English, thousands of articles and columns, and produced many television programs, his website www.lucsala.nl gives an overview. Get bonus content on Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week we revisit a wonderful guest on my series "Confessions of the Psychedelic Elders" (please subscribe and review) with an old acquaintance (and neighbor of mine in Mendocino County) – Mariavittoria Mangini, PhD, FNP. Mangini is the author of the forward for the newly released volume of Sasha Shulgin's pharmacology lectures: The Nature of Drugs, and has written extensively on the impact of psychedelic experiences in shaping the lives of her contemporaries. Her particular interest is in the history of women in this field. In addition to her personal confessions, she will be telling us about her upcoming doctoral class at the California Institute for Integral Studies this fall on women and psychedelics.Mangini has also worked closely with many of the most distinguished investigators in this field and is a founder of the Women's Visionary Council, a nonprofit organization that supports investigations into non-ordinary forms of consciousness and organizes gatherings of researchers, healers, artists, and activists whose work explores these states.Her long history with the Haight Ashbury Free Clinic includes having been a barefoot patient, a lead clinician in the medical section, and the chair of the Board of Directors – all in the same lifetime. She has been a Family Nurse Midwife for 35 years, and was in primary care practice with Frank Lucido MD, one of the pioneers of the medical cannabis movement, for 25 years. Their practice was one of the first to implement the California Compassionate Use Act of 1996, the first state medical cannabis initiative. She is Professor Emerita of Nursing at Holy Names University in Oakland. Her current project is the development of a Thanatology program for the study of death and dying.

Nick talks to medicinal chemist Dr. David Nichols, who has spent decades studying the chemistry and pharmacology of psychedelics. Dr. Nichols shared his knowledge of psychedelic tryptamine, including LSD and DMT, as well as phenethylamines such as mescaline and MDMA. He also discussed his relationship with the late Dr. Alexander "Sasha" Shulgin, and how his thoughts companies trying to make non-hallucinogenic drugs derived from psychedelics.USEFUL LINKS:Download the podcast & follow Nick at his website[www.nickjikomes.com]Support the show on Patreon & get early access to episodes[https://www.patreon.com/nickjikomes]Sign up for the weekly Mind & Matter newsletter[https://mindandmatter.substack.com/]Athletic Greens, comprehensive daily nutrition (Free 1-year supply of Vitamin D w/ purchase)[https://www.athleticgreens.com/mindandmatter]Try MUD/WTR, a mushroom-based coffee alternative[https://www.mudwtr.com/mindmatter]Discount Code ($5 off) = MINDMATTEROrganize your digital highlights & notes w/ Readwise (2 months free w/ subscription)[https://readwise.io/nickjikomes/]Start your own podcast (get $20 Amazon gift card after signup)[https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=1507198]Buy Mind & Matter T-Shirts[https://www.etsy.com/shop/OURMIND?ref=simple-shop-header-name&listing_id=1036758072§ion_id=34648633]Connect with Nick Jikomes on Twitter[https://twitter.com/trikomes]​​​Learn more about our podcast sponsor, Dosist[https://dosist.com/]ABOUT Nick Jikomes:Nick is a neuroscientist and podcast host. He is currently Director of Science & Innovation at Leafly, a technology startup in the legal cannabis industry. He received a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Harvard University and a B.S. in Genetics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/nickjikomes)

This week I continue my series of Confessions of the Psychedelic Elders (please subscribe and review) with an old acquaintance (and neighbor of mine in Mendocino County) – Mariavittoria Mangini, PhD, FNP. Mangini is the author of the forward for the newly released volume of Sasha Shulgin's pharmacology lectures: The Nature of Drugs, and has written extensively on the impact of psychedelic experiences in shaping the lives of her contemporaries. Her particular interest is in the history of women in this field. In addition to her personal confessions, she will be telling us about her upcoming doctoral class at the California Institute for Integral Studies this fall on women and psychedelics.Mangini has also worked closely with many of the most distinguished investigators in this field and is a founder of the Women's Visionary Council, a nonprofit organization that supports investigations into non-ordinary forms of consciousness and organizes gatherings of researchers, healers, artists, and activists whose work explores these states.Her long history with the Haight Ashbury Free Clinic includes having been a barefoot patient, a lead clinician in the medical section, and the chair of the Board of Directors – all in the same lifetime. She has been a Family Nurse Midwife for 35 years, and was in primary care practice with Frank Lucido MD, one of the pioneers of the medical cannabis movement, for 25 years. Their practice was one of the first to implement the California Compassionate Use Act of 1996, the first state medical cannabis initiative. She is Professor Emerita of Nursing at Holy Names University in Oakland. Her current project is the development of a Thanatology program for the study of death and dying.

This week I continue my series of Confessions of the Psychedelic Elders (please subscribe and review) with an old acquaintance (and neighbor of mine in Mendocino County) – Mariavittoria Mangini, PhD, FNP. Mangini is the author of the forward for the newly released volume of Sasha Shulgin's pharmacology lectures: The Nature of Drugs, and has written extensively on the impact of psychedelic experiences in shaping the lives of her contemporaries. Her particular interest is in the history of women in this field. In addition to her personal confessions, she will be telling us about her upcoming doctoral class at the California Institute for Integral Studies this fall on women and psychedelics.Mangini has also worked closely with many of the most distinguished investigators in this field and is a founder of the Women's Visionary Council, a nonprofit organization that supports investigations into non-ordinary forms of consciousness and organizes gatherings of researchers, healers, artists, and activists whose work explores these states.Her long history with the Haight Ashbury Free Clinic includes having been a barefoot patient, a lead clinician in the medical section, and the chair of the Board of Directors – all in the same lifetime. She has been a Family Nurse Midwife for 35 years, and was in primary care practice with Frank Lucido MD, one of the pioneers of the medical cannabis movement, for 25 years. Their practice was one of the first to implement the California Compassionate Use Act of 1996, the first state medical cannabis initiative. She is Professor Emerita of Nursing at Holy Names University in Oakland. Her current project is the development of a Thanatology program for the study of death and dying.

Hoy conversamos sobre los misterios de la Salvia Divinorum con Alex Alcibar, psiconauta experto en esta planta y creador de kawuabonga.com y administrador del grupo Salvia, Sapo y Keta en Facebook. El proyecto de kawuabonga nació en 2008, como un canal de YouTube dedicado a subtitular videos sobre psicodélicos, especialmente de Terence McKenna y Sasha Shulgin inspirado por la idea de divulgar información psicodélica balanceada, en el que se tome en cuenta tanto el aspecto místico y espiritual como el bioquímico y psicofarmacológico.

This week we are speaking to someone who has been around the modern psychedelic movement since the 1960s. Charley Wininger is a psychotherapist and psychoanalyst based in New York City, who recently published a book about MDMA. We chat with him about MDMA as both a medicine and a celebratory tool. We are also giving away TWO COPIES of Charley's book!CONTEST Closes on Friday, May 21, 2021 at 11:59 pm PSTTo enter, all you have to do is:Follow both @modernpsychedelics and @inner_traditonsLeave us a 5-star rating and review on Apple Podcasts.Screenshot the review and email it to hello@modernpsychedelics.net for your entry! Good luck!What we talked about:MDMA: what is it and how does it work?Life transitions, aging and MDMA“Celebrating” with PsychedelicsListening to Ecstacy and its messagesConscious relationships and MDMAHeart to heart bonding through MDMAWhat it was like being around during the psychedelic emergence in the 1960s/70sTransmuting the fear of deathTips for how to take MDMA responsiblyMentioned in the episode:Listening to Ecstacy: The Transformative Power of MDMA [Charley's book]Sasha ShulginDance Safe Drug Testing KitsDonate to the podcast via PayPalHave you gained new insights and perspectives from us and our guests? Consider sending financial energy our way to help support to cost of creating this powerful content.If this episode sparked something within, please let us know and leave us a review!More Modern Psychedelics: Instagram | Facebook  | WebsiteMore Lana: Instagram | YouTubeMore Zoey:Instagram | YouTube

In today’s Solidarity Fridays episode, Kyle and Joe are joined from Mexico by freelance journalist (who has been featured here several times) and writer of Your Psilocybin Mushroom Companion, Michelle Janikian. They first get into an email from a listener in Costa Rica highlighting a problem Michelle has seen in Mexico (and that mirrors last week's discussion about ayahuasca gatherings): expats' disregard for Covid safety protocols showing an egotistical disrespect for the communities that have welcomed them. The episode then shifts to a bit of a callback to the early days of solidarity, with fewer philosophical ponderings and a whole lot of articles (just scroll down to view the wall of links). From ketamine reducing suicidality (and is ketamine a cure-all silver bullet or just an overhyped respite?) to a Rick Strassman-backed study of DMT for stroke patients, to a college in Jamaica opening a Field-Trip backed psilocybin lab, to Vermont and New Jersey's progress on decriminalization bills, to a discussion on if drug laws violate human rights, to extremely mainstream Vogue and Rolling Stone both reporting on psychedelics, this episode has it all. And yes, it does also include anti-government and drug war rants from Joe, so it's truly a complete episode.  And if you forgot, the next round of Navigating Psychedelics for Clinicians and Therapists goes live on 3/11, the new, cheaper, student-focused version of Navigating Psychedelics starts on March 2nd, and our giveaway to win 2 Sasha Shulgin books ends today, so smash that link to win!  Notable Quotes “If we are at home working with psychedelics because we can’t do group work, I think it’s still really important to be talking about it with other like-minded folks, because when we don’t have any community and we just are using psychedelics, it can get a little delusional. ...We can still take psychedelics, but we have to live in reality.” -Michelle  “Everybody’s saying psychedelic integration is important [and it] makes me roll my eyes. Like, yea, true, but how many times do we have to say it? I guess ‘until everyone’s doing it’ is the answer.” -Joe “A lot of my anxiety and depression stems from an existential, spiritual root, and a lot of my experiences with breathwork or psychedelics in the past would get me there and provide that deep level of insight of: ‘I have a choice here.’ And it allowed me to change my relationship (or at least provide insight on how I could change my relationship to that), but then coming back to do the work was the challenge. Like, ‘Oh shit, I need to actually change this. And how do I do that?’” -Kyle “Ok, Federal government: what can you do to win my trust back? And I don’t know what the answer is, honestly. I don’t think I will, at large, ever really trust the US Federal government. I don’t really hold out hope that I’ll trust them again in my lifetime because they’ve shown to be a corrupt, gross, crony, capitalist system that does not care about human well-being.” -Joe (big shock) Links Michellejanikian.com Michelle's last appearance on Psychedelics Today This Week in Virology podcast Esperanzamazateca.com: Donate to help the people of Huautla de Jimenez Newatlas.com: Regular oral doses of ketamine significantly reduce suicidal thoughts Notion.so: Contemplating the complexities of being in relationship with substances Proactiveinvestors.com: Algernon targeting psychedelic drug DMT for stroke program Iflscience.com: Psychedelic Drug DMT To Be Trialed On Stroke Victims Playboy.com: Can Microdosing Make You a Better Athlete? Iflscience.com: “Spirit Molecule” DMT Keeps Cells Alive When Oxygen Levels Are Low Vogue.com: Could the Embrace of Psychedelics Lead to a Mental-Health Revolution? Rollingstone.com: Will the Federal Government Finally Embrace the Psychedelic Revolution? Marijuanamoment.net: New Vermont Bill Would Decriminalize Psychedelics And Kratom (from last year) Vtdigger.org: Lawmakers, prosecutor say it’s time for Vermont to decriminalize drugs (update) Our.Today: UWI opens Caribbean’s first ‘magic mushroom’ lab in Jamaica Psych.prohibitionpartners.com: St. Vincent and the Grenadines Launch Psychedelics Initiative Theatlantic.com: Do Psychedelic Drug Laws Violate Human Rights? Support the show! Patreon Leave us a review on Facebook or iTunes Share us with your friends Join our Facebook group - Psychedelics Today group – Find the others and create community. Navigating Psychedelics  

In today’s Solidarity Fridays episode, Kyle and Joe first talk about some great news stories pushing forward the psychedelic movement: Massachusetts General Hospital creating the Center for Neuroscience of Psychedelics with backing from Atai Life Sciences, Florida pushing forward a bill to establish a legal therapeutic-use psilocybin model similar to Oregon's (with a task force responsible for studying psilocybin), Connecticut pushing forward their own much simpler bill to establish their own psilocybin-studying task force, and a recent study using fMRI to examine brain connectivity that found that under the influence of LSD, the relationship between anatomy and brain structure on brain function (similar to phrenology) weakens, thereby allowing the brain to explore other functional connectivity patterns.  They then dive into the hot and oddly polarizing topic of ayahuasca centers continuing to hold ceremonies with as many as 80 people and 3 sessions a week during a time when people should be doing their best to avoid large groups for the hopeful eradication of the constant thorn in our side known as Covid-19. Even for centers testing people before allowing entry, tests aren't 100% accurate, and that only really addresses people's time at the center and not the travel and interactions afterward. When considering risk management and harm reduction, do people attending these events really need to do this now? Could talk therapy or breathwork over the internet (or taking LSD or psilocybin safely with a trusted friend) be a temporary tide over until gathering in large groups is safe again? What's ethical here? And they let us know about what's going on at Psychedelics Today: the next round of Navigating Psychedelics for Clinicians and Therapists (beginning March 11th (yea, 311!)), a giveaway to win 2 Sasha Shulgin books, a "Light Years" panel discussion on February 12th with director, Colin Thompson, 2 new class offerings, a project to help religious leaders learn more about psychedelics, and a new, cheaper, student-focused version of Navigating Psychedelics, which begins on March 2nd.  Notable Quotes “A lot of people fear that folks like you and I and the psychedelic culture at large might destroy this whole medicalization thing by perhaps being too wreckless, making regulators nervous. But I think because a huge money company like Atai and Mass General are working on this (and there’s so many other big institutions), that this is the kind of ballast that would resist any kind of backslide into a deepening of the drug war. ...This is a nice way to say, ‘Ok, we can’t really go backwards from here.’” -Joe“Politics is regularly about gambling: ‘What is going to be politically popular, possibly make a big difference, or get me re-elected?’ And it’s kind of a weird political calculus that people have to make. The fact that politicians in these states are willing to put their name on the line and say, ‘Hey, I believe in this. I think you should too’- that’s a pretty big deal. They’re spending their political capital. Whereas years ago, it would have been maybe, ‘Let’s stop the Iraq war,’ now, it’s: ‘Let’s get these people treatment with psilocybin’ and that’s really cool progress.” -Joe “When you’re talking about magical thinking and ‘The spirit of ayahuasca’s going to protect me,’ well, I guess we have to look back into history- did shamanistic beliefs help protect a lot of Indigenous people that fell ill from a lot of the European sicknesses and disease that came over in the early years? ... A lot of people died from illness being transmitted within those communities.” -Kyle  “Does your organization have a contact tracing plan? Even if you have a contact tracing plan and testing, that doesn’t mean that people aren’t going to die as a result of you doing this” -Joe Links Bostonglobe.com: Mass General to conduct research on how psychedelics affect the brain Marijuanamoment.net: Psychedelic Mushroom Bills Filed In Florida And Connecticut As Movement Expands To Multiple States Psypost.org: Neuroscience study indicates that LSD “frees” brain activity from anatomical constraints Sciencedirect.com: LSD alters dynamic integration and segregation in the human brain Mindmatters.ai: Why Pioneer Neurosurgeon Wilder Penfield Said the Mind is More Than the Brain Brainpickings.org: William James on Consciousness and the Four Features of Transcendent Experiences Entheonation.com: What Are the Coronavirus Risks with Ayahuasca Ceremonies? Thedailybeast.com: Drug Ritual is ‘Biologically Explosive’ During COVID. Some Devotees Don't Care. Psychedelics Today giveaway: PiHKAL: A Chemical Love Story and TiHKAL: The Continuation, by Sasha & Ann Shulgin Psychedelics Today: “Light Years” panel discussion with director, Colin Thompson Psychedelics Today: Connecting Clergy Support the show! Patreon Leave us a review on Facebook or iTunes Share us with your friends Join our Facebook group - Psychedelics Today group – Find the others and create community. Navigating Psychedelics  

In this episode, Joe interviews Director of ecological think tank The Institute of Ecotechnics, and publisher and CEO of Synergetic Press, Deborah Snyder. Snyder talks about her past- meeting people from the Institute of Ecotechnics at a conference about the solar system, time working with Richard Evans Schultes, participating in a traveling theatre company, and the early days of the Heraclitus (a research ship built for a 2-year expedition through the Amazon, which is now being rebuilt to soon visit and chronicle remote coastal cultures). She also discusses Biosphere 2, ecotechnics (the discipline of relating the technosphere to the biosphere), regenerative agriculture, and the idea of natural capital- assigning economic (or other) value to an ecosystem as a way of both identifying keys to ecological longevity and increasing corporate or governmetal interest in the environment.  She talks about books she's published or work she's been inspired by from a veritable who's-who of names listeners of this podcast should be familiar with: Dennis McKenna, Wade Davis, William S. Burroughs, Mark Plotkin, Ralph Metzner, John Perry Barlow, and Claudio Naranjo. And she's very excited about a 2-day symposium Synergetic Press will be putting on in May to commemorate the launch of Volume 1 of Sasha Shulgin's course curriculum on the nature of drugs.  Notable Quotes “I’m from Illinois. I’m from the rural midwest. All my family are farmers. There is a gulf of understanding about plant medicines and the potential of these medicines in places where people are really desperate for these kinds of tools to help with youth health and mental well-being- good well-being. So, I’m interested in bridging that gulf with the work that we’re doing next, because I think that part of the divide is this physical divide between suburban city and rural country to some degree, which we’ve seen growing over a 50-year period of time.” “Many of our shoulders on which we stand- we’re losing them. So I feel more necessity, you might say, to capture these voices.” “In doing anything, it’s very hard to do anything by yourself. You need to find a group of other individuals that have some commonality or ally yourself with other organized groups already to get something of a coalescence of wills to make something happen.”  Links Synergeticpress.com Facebook Twitter Instagram Youtube Institute of Ecotechnics Changing Our Minds: Psychedelic Sacraments and the New Psychotherapy, by Don Lattin Where The Gods Reign: Plants and Peoples of the Colombian Amazon, by Richard Evans Schultes Imdb.com: Embrace of the Serpent White Gold: the Diary of a Rubber Cutter in the Amazon, by John C. Yungjohann Ayahuasca Reader: Encounters with the Amazon's Sacred Vine, by Luis Eduardo Luna & Steven F. White Kissthegroundmovie.com Birth of a Psychedelic Culture, by Ram Das and Ralph Metzner Wikipedia.org: John Perry Barlow Spaceshipearthmovie.com The Revolution We Expected: Cultivating a New Politics of Consciousness, by Claudio Naranjo Thefarmatsouthmountain.com About Deborah Snyder Support the show Patreon Leave us a review on Facebook or iTunes Share us with your friends Join our Facebook group - Psychedelics Today group – Find the others and create community. Navigating Psychedelics  

Drs Heather Bell & Kurt DeVine return to Sasha Shulgin, the “Godfather of Ecstasy”... This episode will highlight his “Top 12” designer drugs- the hows, the whys, the effects as well as a few ‘complications'. To learn more about the doctors as well as keep up with current happenings follow us on twitter: @echocsct and Facebook: @theaddictionconnectionhk

Drs Heather Bell & Kurt DeVine return to Sasha Shulgin, the “Godfather of Ecstasy”... This episode will highlight his “Top 12” designer drugs- the hows, the whys, the effects as well as a few ‘complications'. To learn more about the doctors as well as keep up with current happenings follow us on twitter: @echocsct and Facebook: @theaddictionconnectionhk

Drs Heather Bell & Kurt DeVine venture down a path of highlighting a very historical person in the history of “club drugs”/”designer drugs”- the “Godfather of Ecstasy” Sasha Shulgin. This episode will feature the history of his discoveries, his collaboration with the DEA, and his eventual decline. To learn more about the doctors as well as keep up with current happenings follow us on twitter: @echocsct and Facebook: @theaddictionconnectionhk

Drs Heather Bell & Kurt DeVine venture down a path of highlighting a very historical person in the history of “club drugs”/”designer drugs”- the “Godfather of Ecstasy” Sasha Shulgin. This episode will feature the history of his discoveries, his collaboration with the DEA, and his eventual decline. To learn more about the doctors as well as keep up with current happenings follow us on twitter: @echocsct and Facebook: @theaddictionconnectionhk

When Sasha Shulgin was at the end of his life, experiencing dementia, I had the privilege of interviewing him. Then both my parents got dementia. These experiences taught me lessons in life I won't forget, and I want to share them with you. ROUGH TRANSCRIPT Hi everyone. I really hate that I have to begin my show again, for the third time in a row, with an apology for how long it’s taking me to produce new episodes. But I’ve really been 2020’d hard. Since the last episode I’ve had three people in my life die. My best friend from high school, Pat Welch, died in a motorcycle accident, my good friend and colleague, Kevin Zeese, who founded of the Drug Policy Foundation and served on the board of DanceSafe for a while, died of a heart attack, and just week ago my step father died of covid. And… my mom also has covid, and she’s been in the hospital for the past two weeks. And for some unknown reason… it might be the covid… right around the same time she got it, she lost virtually all of short term memory, and she can’t care for herself. So for the past two weeks I’ve been on the phone with doctors, nurses, lawyers, and her friends in England… to try to manage her care. And I’ve been talking to her every day. And it’s tragic, because when you lose your short term memory you can’t grieve. Her husband died a week ago but she keeps asking her nurses, “where’s Jim?” And she has to re-learn over and over again multiple times a day that he died. It’s like she’s being continually re-traumatized. You need to be able to encode new memories or you can’t grieve. I can’t think of anything worse, and it’s really affecting me. My mom has always been a smart, super competent, and highly motivated woman who took care of everyone around her, and now she’s in this horrible twilight zone hell of non-stop misery and I feel helpless to do anything about it. The nurses aren’t allowed to tell me what medications she’s taking. She can’t remember obviously. All she does is cry and say, “what am I gonna do. I can’t live without him.” It’s just awful. And because of the covid, it’s even worse. She’s not allowed visitors. She’s just alone in a hospital bed crying and confused. Even the doctors who might be capable of assessing her short-term memory issues aren’t allowed to see her. I’m not allowed to fly over there. Even if I did I couldn’t see her now. I’d have to quarantine for two weeks first. So I feel helpless. FUCK YOU 2020! YOU FUCKING SUCK! [MUSIC] Hi again everyone. So I recorded that about a week ago. I don’t know what I was thinking, how I would possible have been able to record an entire show in the state I was in back then. I t may have been because I started taking Adderall every day. I convinced myself it would help me manage my mother’s situation, and maybe it did, but I think it really just added to my overall stress. And maybe minor mania too. There was no way I record an episode in that state. No way in hell. Why would I even want to? I think I felt guilty that yet again a month was ticking by with no new episodes, and I do feel a commitment to you all. My listeners. But anyway, I think I can do it now, and I’ll tell you why. First, my mother’s getting better. She finally tested negative for covid, and the past three days her memory is much better. Maybe it WAS the covid affecting her brain, but it also could have been this one medication she was taking. After fighting with her nurses for a week I finally got a list of her medications, and she’d been on this Parkinson’s drug called Pramipexole. She doesn’t have Parkinson’s, but Pramipexole is sometimes prescribed for restless leg syndrome, this condition where your leg twitches when you try to fall asleep. Anyway, as I was googling her medications, all these warnings popped up around Pramipexole about, I fucking kid you not, SEVERE SHORT TERM MEMORY IMPAIRMENT! Are you kidding me? A twelve-year old could have discovered this about this drug, yet the nurses who were witnessing her memory problems on a daily basis were giving it to her every night. So I fucking called them right away and told them to stop giving her that drug, and they told me they couldn’t without talking to her GP. In England a GP, or general practitioner, is like a primary care physician in the States. I said, “what about a doctor there” and they said the covid ward doctors couldn’t make a decision about anything other than covid treatment. Jesus fuck! So then I realized I had to talk to her GP, but for the past month her friends in England had been trying to get a hold of her GP and they would never call back. My sister tried also about a week ago… specifically to try to get a list of her medications, and they wouldn’t even put my sister (HER DAUGHTER) through. Everyone had been telling them that my mom had this sudden dementia and she needed to be assessed. I don’t know if it was the covid or bureaucracy or whatever, but her GP wouldn’t talk to anyone. So I called and told the receptionist that I was a doctor in America, and my mother was likely suffering memory impairment from a certain medication she was on, and that we had been trying to get a hold of her doctor for a month, and the situation was critical now, and I want to the doctor to immediately call the hospital and have them discontinue this medication. “Right away Dr. Sferios. Let me put you through to her doctor.” Same conversation with her doctor, with an added, “didn’t you know Pramipexole has a common side effect of severe short term memory loss? And… why is it in England it takes a month to get through to a GP?” Well, he called and had this Parkinson’s drug discontinued right away. And the next day, my mom seemed a little bit better. Yesterday too, and today… I just got off the phone with her, and she’s back. I fucking have my mother back. Now, it’s too early to know whether it will last. Maybe it was the covid. Maybe it was the medication, or maybe even she’s just having a good spell, which can happen with dementia. But either way, Pramipexole is contraindicated with dementia. You just don’t prescribe someone that drug if they are experiencing dementia, especially for an off-label use like restless leg syndrome. I stopped taking the adderall, by the way. Can’t fucking do stimulants eery day. My blood pressure was high. It wasn’t good for me. Drugs. This is a podcast about drugs. But look, if you’ve been following me, you know I don’t compartmentalize my life. I talk about everything. So this is my personal life. But I’m telling you, as I always do, because it’s who I am. Full honesty. Full authenticity. And I wanted you to know why, once again, I wasn’t putting out regular episodes. But there are some drug lessons here, aren’t there. Other than watch out for adderall and high blood pressure, particular when you hit middle age… there’s also something obvious here, but I guess not obvious enough for my mom… who’s a hello a smart woman. And that is… don’t ever let a doctor prescribe a drug for you without researching it first yourself. You can’t trust doctors to know everything about every drug they prescribe. New drugs are released constantly and they get pens and paperweights sent to them by the pharmaceuticals with the new drug’s name on them in order to convince the doctor to prescribe it… FOR MONEY! If you wouldn’t take a new research chemical without researching it, why would you take a pharmaceutical EVERY DAY OF YOUR LIFE, without researching it? And I get it. Some people want to trust their doctors. They don’t trust themselves to know what the truth is. But even if you are’t the brightest egg, at least google and read the top five links, and if you see side effects that bother you, like “SEVERE SHORT TERM MEMORY IMPAIRMENT,” at least ask your doctor about it? Say, “hey doc I noticed this side effect of this drug you want me to take.” And if you doctor says, “I’m not too worried about that” then ask, “why not?” And if you don’t get an answer that makes sense, you need to do a risk-benefit analysis for yourself. Is a twitching leg at night worth losing all your short term memory? Is a night of cocaine fun worth dying because you didn’t test it for fentanyl first? We’re a drug happy culture, and I’m not against any drug, as I’m sure all of you know. But remember pushers have an interest in getting you on their drugs. This is capitalism. And to be honest, illicit drug makers are FAR MORE ETHICAL than the pharmaceuticals. The NBOMe’s have kind of disappeared. So have some of the dangerous cathinones. When a recreational drug comes out and people start dying, we’ve seen a tendency for manufactures to stop selling them. The dark net these days is mostly filled with the good drugs. You used to be able to get anything. Now most of them have banned fentanyl, and the nBOMe’s etc. Pharmaceuticals won’t do that. They will lie about their studies. They will coverup the dangers, so with pharmaceuticals you need to be even more vigilant. The cartels of course are an exception when it comes to illegal drugs. They’re more like the pharmaceuticals than they are small underground chemists. That’s why fentanyl is more prevalent than ever. Despite the dark net markets refusing to allow them, and small-time chemists no longer making it, giant Chinese labs in cahoots with Mexican cartels are still flooding our drug supply with fentanyl. So test your fucking drugs for fentanyl. Get your testing strips at dancesafe.org. sigh… Memory… it’s so fucking important. I remember when I saw Sasha Shulgin for the last time. I was interviewing him and and Ann for my documentary. This was a bout six weeks before Sasha died, and was struggling with dementia himself at the time. I asked him what it feels like from the inside to have memory issues like he was having. In true Sasha fashion, he rubbed his chin and thought for a moment, then looked up and said, “I can’t remember” with a big smile. Sasha, the great lover of puns, couldn’t resist the opportunity for a good joke. But here’s the real thing, and trust me on this. I’ve been talking to my mom now, who’s back remember, and I told her about everything that had happened over the past month, and she was kind of in disbelief. Yes mom Jim died almost two weeks ago. Yes mom you’ve been in the hospital over three weeks. This may sound trite but I’ll tell you why it’s not in a minute… WHEN YOU LOSE YOUR MEMORY, YOU CAN’T REMEMBER. You don’t know it. When you lose your short term memory, you don’t realize it. This is profound shit. You feel the same on the inside. You will be confused, but you have no clue it’s because of memory. In the throngs of my mom’s short term memory loss, she kept saying, “what am I going to do?” Over and over, and “I can’t live without him.” This is so unlike my mom. Her husband almost died of cancer ten years ago and when he was in the hospital having surgery with some chance oof death, my mom was calm and coherent. We talked about what she wanted to do when he died. Did she want to move back to the States and live with me? Would she want to live alone? She said she didn’t want to move back. She had a young grandson she loved, Liam, her husband’s grandson. Liam is now 13. She wanted to be near him. But when her short term memory was gone, she was just in a panic. And she didn’t know why. She just knew on some intuitive level that she was confused… “I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO,” she kept saying. That was true. But she didn’t know why. When I would tell her it was her memory, she denied it. “Oh everyone is telling me the but my memory is fine.” When you’re in it you don’t realize it. You won’t be able to remember that you can’t remember when you lose your memory. Short term or long term. And what does that mean for us? What’s the lesson here? What’s the difference between Sasha, who was his jolly old self even though his dementia at the time I last saw him was worse than my mom’s, and my mom’s who was emotionally hysterical … for weeks. Ok the obvious is that my mom had just lost her husband and was re-learning that over and over, whereas Sasha had his beloved Ann right nest to him the whole time. So you never know what situation you might find yourself in later in life. But still, I think there’s a lesson here. That means something we can learn about this situation that gives us practical information. And so here’s what I think it is… Both is if someone we love gets dementia. And if we get it. If someone you love gets dementia… what I learned, from my mother’s hopefully brief situation, to my father who died in 2012 after a year-long fight with dementia… is that you need to meet them where they are at. You need to do your own grieving as quickly as possible, over the loss of whatever you were attached to in regards to your loved one, and you need to realize they are still there. On the inside, no matter what is going on on the outside, THEY—THEIR CONSCIOUSNESS—is still their. They still feel themselves exactly as they were. And you need to treat them with respect. For me, with my mom, that meant trying to make her happy and calm her. I didn’t want to lie to her that Jim was still alive (although I have heard in some long-term cases when the short term memory doesn’t come back, some families choose to lie, and that’s ok. I just couldn’t write off that she wouldn’t get better, it was too early, and I’m glad I didn’t.) So I kept telling her, “Don’t worry mom. I’m here and you have tons of people who love you and we’re going to help you through this. You don’t need to do anything. We’re taking care of the funereal, and you’re going to see him and get to say goodbye very soon.” A minute later… “what am I going to do?” “You don’t need to do anything, mom. We’re taking care of everything. You’re going to see him soon at the funereal and say goodbye.” For ten minutes it would go on like this. But it would calm her down. I hope you never have to deal with this. But a lot of us will, as dementia affects more and more people. Like I said, I went through it with my father, and now my mother, and while I hope it was just the covid, or the medication that caused it, I don’t know. And the fact that BOTH my parents might have some predisposition towards dementia, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about what I can do NOW, so that if I get it, I’ll be more like Sasha. And I do think there’s a lesson here. Maybe just a small one, because there’s a lot of unknowns, and of course factors we have no control over. But in general I think the lesson is to deal with your demons now, before they come back to haunt you. And those demons are attachments. Literally, the things you think you need live or to be happy. For my mom it was her ability to take care of people. Her hysteria around her husband’s death wasn’t because of his death per se, but because she realized she was confused and on a basic level realized couldn’t plan the funereal or deal with the myriad other things she was used to doing. Again, she was the smart and competent one, and always took charge. And when she couldn’t (because of the memory impairment she was unaware of), it sent her into a panic. This is attachment. Attachment to competency. To being able to take care of people. “Don’t worry mom we are taking care of it for you now.” And I’m telling my mom all these things now that she’s able to encode new memories. And now she wants to be a part of the planning for the funereal, and her friends and the nurses and social workers helping manage it *are* involving her… little be little. But if she had remained unable to encode new memories, or if she reverts back, I worry she would be in distress constantly. Was Sasha somehow able to let go of his attachments? He was a brilliant scientist. He lost his cognitive faculties. He could barely speak. Yet he mustered up a joke. Yet take my father. He spent months terrorized with the delusion that his ex wife was having sex with the neighbors. He would stare out the window and think he saw her through the neighbor’s window. Then demand his home care giver drive him over there so he could confront the neighbor. We told his caregivers to drive him wherever he wanted… except to the neighbor’s houses, obviously. He would become rageful, and scream and threaten his caregivers. And supposedly delusions like this are common among men who get dementia. Faithful, loyal couples who love each other experience it often. If the man gets dementia, there’s a high chance he will start believing his wife is having affairs. Doctors don’t know why, but I think I do… It’s attachment. When you start to lose your memories and your cognitive functions, whatever you are attached to will haunt you. It will become your demon. And that includes attachment to the one you love. In the end we have to let go of everything, including and especially what we love the most. To the degree we are unwilling or unable to do that, determines how much we will suffer if we get dementia. So think about what you most fear losing. What is your most beloved. Your spouse or partner? Your competency? Your intellect? Your friends? You. Will. Lose. All. Those. Things. And when you do, you will still be there. The same you you have always been, on the inside. And if you haven’t let go of them, let go of your attachment to them… you will suffer. So if you want to prevent a constant state of suffering if you happen to be one of the unlucky ones to get dementia later in life, get in touch with who you really are, and dwell there. The more practice you do now in that regard, the easier it’s going to be when you can no longer think or remember. —— Those are the lessons I got from my mom, and my dad, and Sasha Shulgin. Of course we can also talk about ways to prevent dementia. And I think there’s four crucial things. I’ll tell you about them in a minute, but first I want to talk about my last episode on QAnon, because I have three people tell me they couldn’t follow it. They didn’t understand it. And one of those people is a good friend of mine who I never expected would fly over his head. He is Canadian though so he might not be familiar enough with American politics… and I realize there were a lot of names in there and some young people today listening to this episode might simply be too young to remember who all these people are. So I just want to give a quick summary of the last episode. If you recall, my last episode wasn’t about drugs at all… unless you think Adrenochrome is a real drug, and that Democrats and celebrities are harvesting it from the brain’s of children to get high. But I don’t want to get into that. The QAnon conspiracy theory is filled with nonsense, and that’s the tuff people remember most, because it’s the stuff that’s most easily debunked. It’s fun to laugh at people who believe in crazy nonsense, but what I was trying to do in my last episode, is take your understanding of the QAnon phenomenon to the next level. Because there is overwhelming evidence that QAnon is not a joke, but it rather a deep state propaganda campaign. A psyop of psychological operation with an intended, manipulative purpose. And the first thing you gotta realize if we’re going to get anywhere here is that there is a deep state, and there are conspiracies. If you’re someone who thinks all conspiracy claims nonsense and the government of the world’s largest empire runs openly (like open source software), you’re foolish, and well, I don’t know what to tell you. Read the Art of War by Tsun Su. On the other hand, if you’re someone who does recognize that some conspiracies are real, then the most important thing you need to know is that despite that being true, the majority of conspiracy claims, are NOT true, and many of them are intentionally designed to manipulate you. So this is the summary of my last episode: Disinformation is a staple part of geopolitical warfare. All major governments of the world today have covert agencies who engage information warfare, releasing false narratives to manipulate and control both their enemies as well as their own populations. In the United States, the OSS (office of strategic services) was the covert agency during World War II. They began mastering the art of disinformation, against the Nazi’s but also against the Soviet Union who they knew would become an enemy once the war was over. And when the war did end, the OSS wasn’t disbanded. They became the CIA and they greatly expanded their covert (and that means secret, and that means conspiracy) work. The Cold War was a hot war where the CIA paid and managed private mercenary armies around the world to fight so-called communism (but really any country that wanted to develop independently and didn’t want to sell itself out to Western corporations and banks, regardless of whether they were allied with the Soviet Union) was deemed communist and subjected to destabilization, disruptions and a great many times invasion. So although to many of the players in the CIA, it was about fighting communism, but to the smarter ones, they knew what it was really about was directing the flow of wealth around the world into the coffers os Western corporations.) Anyway, the Cold War was a hot war, but it was also a cultural and information war, including and especially here at home, where a growing socialist movement, workers movement, and a movement for a fair and equitable distribution of wealth and power, had to be crushed. And there were all sorts of ways in which these cultural wars were fought. Defunding left economics in universities and replacing it with identity politics. That’s really what has destroyed the left in the United States. Today what is considered the left is nearly empty of any economic analysis, and instead it’s only about race, gender, abortion rights… important issues of course but issues the corporations don’t care about. They would rather keep us fighting over these cultural issues than organizing across race for a fairer share of the wealth and power. That’s important to understand, but that’s another story… I’m just bringing up examples of the ubiquity of covert operations within the cultural sphere. Hegemony requires controlling narratives. It’s information warfare. And the CIA was, and remains, the masters of this. There are many intelligence agencies these days, and they are the Central Intelligence Agency. Manipulation. Psychological warfare, is their speciality. And one of the ways they manipulate with disinformation is in generating cover-ups for their covert operations. From assassinations to engineering coups in third world countries, from secret torture centers to experimental aircraft development in Roswell, New Mexico, the CIA has always invented false narratives to cover up what they are doing, to lead independent researchers astray, so nobody can figure out the truth, and organize against it. This is part and parcel of what they do. It’s what they have always done. And starting in the 1950s, these false narratives began to take on the shape of what we might call today, “conspiracy theories”… kind of crazy narratives on the surface seem silly, but that if you mixed a bit of truth in them you could get at least some people to believe. The idea is simply to disrupt and confuse anyone who is trying to prove that these clandestine operations were done by the CIA, whether it’s overthrowing a government or assassinating a world leader. It wasn’t as important that everyone believe the official lie (like, the government was overthrown by its own people because it was a tyrannic government), as much as nobody could prove the CIA orchestrated it. So the false narratives they began throwing out there didn’t have to all be logical or consistent. They just needed to deflect. To make it impossible for anyone to prove the truth. Send people down a rabbit hole, in other words, was effective enough. Some information warfare terms include honey traps, where you bait people with tempting answers in order to get them stuck in a dead end. False flags, where you blame an action on an outside entity, and limited hangouts, where you admit to a partial truth in order to make another lie associated with that truth, seem real. So these false narratives began to get crazier. You didn’t need everyone to believe them. You just needed to bait, temp and confuse enough people who doubted the official story, so they could never know the real truth, and be able to organize an effective resistance to it. This was the beginning of conspiracy theory culture. Understanding the historical connection between covert warfare, disinformation and modern conspiracy theory is crucial if you want to understand QAnon, and this is why I spent so much time on this history. Because despite conspiracy theory culture having taking on a life of its own, it began, and is still managed by the covert agencies. In the US, that principally means the CIA. So my last podcast with investigative journalist Robbie Martin, basically traces the recent history of the origins of QAnon, proving I think without a doubt that QAnon is a CIA or deep state, operation. The greatest irony is that the QAnon narrative pretends that Donald Trump is fighting the deep state. He’s not. He’s working right along with them. Mueller never intended find Russian collusion with the Trump campaign. There was no Russian collusion. Just like when Mueller did the anthrax investigation and blamed the attack it on a lone individual when in fact it was the CIA, the Mueller investigation, in the same way, was designed to deflect attention away fro the fact that it was the CIA who gave the DNC emails to Wikileaks. It was the CIA who wanted Trump elected. For whatever reason. But they are blaming it on Russia. And Trump is pretending to be pro-Russia when everything he has done since entering office has been anti-Russia. QAnon, is a deep state psyop, and the other thing about it, the thing that’s new in regards to QAnon, is that seemingly for the first time, conspiracy theory culture is being weaponized. QAnon is the first conspiracy theory ever that is attacking the left, fully partisan, and that’s creating an army of nazi-style brown shirts… who have already begun killing leftist protestors. Rather than just deflecting people away from their covert operations, they are using conspiracy theory now as a weapon. They are manipulating masses of right-leaning people to hate anyone on the left, as if we are pedophiles. All this is in my last episode with Robbie Martin. Listen to it if you haven’t already. What’s happening today is different than anything I’ve seen in my lifetime, and it is dangerous. And if you’ve already listened to it and didn’t quite understand it, I hope now with this little history lesson and summary, if you listen to it again you will understand it. And I fully realize that what I’m telling you is that QAnon is actually a deeper conspiracy than even those who expose it believe. And I realize if you are one of those people who think all conspiracy theories are nonsense, then you’re likely going to think that I’m even more crazy than the QAnoners. But you know what? I don’t care. If you dismiss all deep politics, don’t believe there’s a covert arm of the government with more power than congress or the executive branch, and you can’t see the difference between milking children’s brains for adrenochrome, and real conspiracies, and you lump them all together as nonsense… just stop listening now and never listen to my podcast again. Because you’re as much of the problem as the QAnoners. And if you’re a QAnoner, I hope I’ve at least got you top realize that not all conspiracy claims are real, and you need to WAKE UP, because you are being manipulated, and used as a weapon, and we could very easily see martial law, authoritarianism, and everything you hate come to pass because you think Trump is against the deep state, rather than a part of it. And just in case you really need to hear this from me… Yes, Biden is part of the deep state too. The answer to what’s happening is not the Democrats. Jesus Fuck I didn’t mean to spend that much time on this. I really want to talk about how to prevent dementia, and yes, psychedelics have a role on it. And I will talk about it. Right now. But one more thing about why it takes me so long to create these episodes, and how I’m going to try to change that. I really do appreciate all of you out there supporting me on my Patreon, and I really do want to honor you by releasing weekly episodes. You deserve it. So let me tell you what’s going on with me, and let’s see if you can help me get over this hump… Aside from real, personal issues that keep getting in the way, like my divorce a year and a half ago, and my mom getting covid and losing her short term memory, I also have always wanted my podcasts to be evergreen. That means in the end, when I die, my episodes are still going to be important and relevant. If you go back and look through them all, nothing has ever been dated, at least until the last episode about QAnon. This desire of mine, to create episodes that will be educational and enjoyable for generations to come, make producing an episode REALLY FUCKING HARD. I’m not like a lot of podcasters who can just talk and talk about whatever. There’s not a lot of chit-chat in my episodes. I recently learned I’m on the autism spectrum and that might be why I hate chit chat myself and I hate listenting to podcasts. (You like that, a podcaster who hates podcasts). I read non-stop and I want substance not frill. Information and emotional meaningfulness. Sure I like humor too. That has its place, but just pointless verbalizing, which so many podcasts do… I can’t listen. So anyway it typically takes me three 10-hour days to make one of these episodes. I first conceive of a topic, then find an expert to interview, then do the interview, then spend an entire day editing it to remove the superfluous stuff, a well as breaths and “ums” and “likes” and “you knows”… all those speech patterns that slow down the pace… that takes more than a full day. Then I write my opening monologue and wait a day, re-read it and edit it because I always find things I want to change on the second day. Then I record it. Then drop it in front of the interview. I use Adobe Premiere to edit these things, btw. Anyway, you get the idea… But here’s the thing.. this is the first podcast I’ve ever done where I just sat down and wrote a long monologue stream of consciousness. And I’m on track now to get this whole thing done in less than maybe eight hours. I wrote the first initial part about my mom and recorded it a week ago. But the remainder I’ve sitting here writing for maybe three hours. And I don’t intend to sit on it for a day and re-write things. I’m just going to record it as-is. It’s kind of an experiment. I’m trying to see if this format is something that will work. And that mean something you like. So… I want to ask you top please… if you’ve gotten this far, and if in the end you like this episode and you want me to do more of these free-form style rants, let me know. I just might be able to do this weekly, and provide you with steady content. You can write me at DrugPositive@gmail.com, or Facebook message me. I’m not hard to find. Or post a comment on the YouTube channel. I don’t care how you contact me, but let me know if you actually like listening to my stream of consciousness thoughts. And again, thank you to all my Pastreon subscribers, and especially my newest subscriber, Dan, is giving $200 per month. I want to cry. Thank you Dan. Let’s talk again soon. And Lys, who’s giving me 50 a month. Lys. I owe you a few video chats now. You have my number. Call me anytime. Let’s do it. Okay, let’s get to the final section of the episode… The four most important things you can do to prevent dementia. And listen… I know a lot of young people listen to my podcast, and you may never think about dementia, but trust me. It will impact your life some day. Whether it’s a parent or grandparent or friend, or yourself. So don’t think this shit doesn’t apply to you. If you do these four things you will significantly reduce your chances of experiencing dementia later in life. I know this to be true, because I’ve studied it. And I’m on the autism spectrum. And people on the spectrum don’t stop researching a topic until they’ve exhausted every angle, and categorized all the data into properly labeled, little boxes with arrows that point to all the related boxes, cross-referencing all the claims and doing scientific experiments to test their validity until there is no doubt whatsoever. Okay I don’t really know if all people on the spectrum do that, but that’s what I do. I did this research for a year back in 2012 when I was taking care of my father during his decline. And then I’ve been perseverating on it again, reading tons of new stuff over the past three weeks since my mother lost her short term memory. I’ve even been neglecting my DanceSafe work because of it. But don’t trust me. Do you own research. Corroborate everything you hear. Trust has a place, but it only goes so far. You can figure out who’s more trustworthy with information, and you can lean on those people a bit. And if you lean on me for that thank you. That’s a sign of appreciation and everyone likes being appreciated, but don’t trust me or anyone completely. People make mistakes. Doctors prescribe you the wrong medications. Q tells you bits of the secret truth with wallops of disinformation. You have to think for yourself… Okay, the four most important things you can do to prevent dementia are, not in any particular order… 1.) Exercise every day, especially cardio. 2.) Eat fewer carbohydrates and more good fats. 3) Challenge yourself cognitively by learning and doing new things. And 4) Take psychedelics regularly. Now, I’m going to elaborate on all these things to try and convince you why they are important, and why this isn’t bullshit. And I’m not going to charge you any money for this advice. I’m telling you this because for my entire life, I’ve been the kind of person who learns and teaches. You can ask my high school friends. It’s just in my nature. I love communicating knowledge. Absorbing it and giving it away. In fact, that’s my attachment, so I’ve been practicing again letting go of that. There will come a time when I can’t communicate anymore. When I won’t be able to learn more, nor share what I’ve learned. I might be dead what that time comes, but I might be alive with dementia, and I want to end up like Sasha, not my father. Okay, first… exercise. Some might say it goes without saying, but nothing goes without saying. Why would you know exercise prevents dementia if nobody explained why. So here’s why… When you move your body, you get the blood flowing. It flows faster. Your heart beats a little fast to get the blood flowing into the muscles you are moving in order to carry the energy and nutrients and oxygen in the blood to feed the cells so you can keep doing the movement. When you really move your body such that your heart rate goes up, the blood flows a lot faster, and it flows a lot faster in your brain as well. This carries more oxygen to parts of your brain that do not get that much normally. This causes new electrical signaling in your brain, because neurons fire that don’t normally, and the pattern of firing is stronger. This is why you experience new thoughts when you do cardio exercise. The new thoughts just come to you. You don’t even have to try to think them. Everyone who does intense cardio-vascular exercise realizes this. I’ve been a long distance runner my whole life because it gets me high. I feel amazing when I run, and for hours adfterwards, and if I don’t run for a while, I start feeling depressed. My brain doesn’t work as well. Even if you don’t experience depression, you still strengthen your brain when you exercise. One thing about cardio-vascular exercise people forget is the vascular part. They think it’s just about strengthening your heart. It’s not. The vascular part is equally as important. Your blood vessels carry oxygen and nutrients to every cell in your body. And as you age, the capillaries get old. Those are the smallest blood vessels that carry your blood to the farthest, hardest-to-reach parts of your body. Your toes and the deepest regions of your internal organs, including your brain. You want to get blood in there, to carry the oxygen and nutrients to the cells in there they connect to. This will help prevent not just dementia but cancer and other SUCKY diseases that result from cells dying. Exercise. Okay number two. Eat fewer carbohydrates and more healthy fats. Our species has been around for maybe 250,000 to 300,000 years, and that wasn’t even the beginning of us. Our pre-homo-sapien ancestors evolved for millions of years before that, and during that entire time, WE HARDLY ATE ANY CARBOHYDRATES! It was only about 5,000 year sago when agriculture formed that we started eating grains in large quantities, and over the last 100 years, especially in the West, sugar and fruit and other carbohydrates have come to dominate our diet. This has resulted in a diabetes epidemic, and yes, a dementia epidemic too. Why? I’ll tell you why. There are only two types of energy our cells can use. I’m talking any and ever cell in our body. Carbohydrates and fats. And to be more precise, glucose and keytones. Whatever carbohydrates you eat, in whatever form, before they can enter any cell in your body, they have to first get metabolized down into the simplest carbohydrate of all… glucose. Then, with the help of insulin, it can enter the cell. But take note… why did we evolve to need a helper chemical to get this energy? Our pancreas produces insulin in order to allow the glucose to pass through the cell wall into the cell. Why did we need to evolve a whole new organ to get this energy? Why don’t our cells just allow the glucose in on their own? Well, there are a number of reasons for that, but one of them is that … WE DIDN’T GET OUR ENERGY FROM CARBOHYDRATES FOR MILLIONS OF YEARS! We got them from fats. Fats get broken down into keytones, which enter the cell, giving it energy without needing insulin. This is where 99.9% of our cellular energy came from for 99.9% of our evolution, up until the modern industrial world. Carbohydrates were consumed in such rare amounts that really the pancreas evolved to produce insulin NOT to help that glucose get into our muscles or neurons so we could function and do our daily activities. We had enough keytones, produced from enough fat, for that. Rather, the insulin helped get that glucose into our fat cells for storage. Carbohydrates, when we did consume them during our evolution, became fat in our bodies, and then at times when we couldn’t get enough fat from, say, eating meat, that stored fat was released and turned into keytones, which entered our muscle and brain cells giving them energy. The keto diet is a diet high in fat and low in carbohydrates, but you don’t need to go to any extreme to lower the amount of carbohydrates you eat. You just really went to get most of your energy from keytones, from fat, rather than from carbohydrates. You don’t need any carbohydrates if you enough enough protein and fat. But you will die if all you eat are carbohydrates. That should tell you something. Also, and here’s where dementia comes in hard… the brain prefers getting its energy from keytones. The keto diet, in fact, was developed for epilepsy. It prevents seizures as good or better than any anti-seizure medication on the market. When you eat carbohydrates and it turns into glucose and floods your blood, your body releases insulin to send that glucose into your cells for energy. That includes the neurons own your brain. Sometimes, though, too much insulin remains, and when your muscles and neurons and other cell of your functioning organs don’t need glucose anymore, the insulin sends all the remaining glucose into fat storage. At that point you can become sluggish, physically and mentally, because you don’t have anymore glucose around to feed your cells. And there aren’t enough keytones around because your body has not been in the habit of breaking down fats for energy. This mental sluggishness is literally the result of your brain’s neurons not able to function because it has no energy. If you were getting your primary energy from keytones, however, if you were eating enough fat and not eating too many carbs, then there would ALWAYS be enough energy ALL THE TIME, to feed your neurons. I’m on the keto diet, and since I started a little over a year ago, I never get sluggish like I used to. And the lack of energy for your neurons is just one way in which a high carb diet can contribute to dementia. The other is diabetes itself. And that is even worse, and is highly correlated with certain types of dementia. Type two or adult onset diabetes results when your cells, having been bombarded with insulin so much because you’re eating carbs and getting almost all your energy from glucose, become tolerant to the insulin, including your fat cells. And now you have excess sugar in your blood stream. This sugar can directly damage the blood vessels in your brain resulting in a type of dementia called vascular dementia. Ok number three… Challenge yourself cognitively by learning and doing new things. Your brain is a muscle. Use it or lose it. Specifically, what this means is that the electrical activity in your brain strengthens the neurons those electrical impulses pass through, and actually grows new ones. When a neuron receives chemical signals from nearby firing cells, they also grow new dendrites in order to receive more. Dendritic sprouting increases neural connections, allowing that cell to receive chemicals from nearby neurons that could reach it before. The number of interconnections grows whenever these electrical impulses take place. If you only do the same thing over and over, you are only strengthening the neurons in your brain required to do those activities, and others can atrophy. You need to do NEW things, to challenge yourself to learn NEW and DIFFICULT tasks, in order to strengthen the parts of your brain that involve themself in learning. Learning is memory. So crossword puzzles, learning to play a new instrument is really good. Even learning new physical activities like snowboarding or if you’re old and too frail for that, learn to juggle. Even just memorizing lists of words or numbers can strengthen your memory and cognitive functioning, but that’s pretty boring. But you get the idea. Use it or lose it. If you’re doing the same thing every day, if the tasks required of you are easy, happening from muscle memory only, and your mind just wanders… if you just watch TV all the time, passively… you’re neurons, especially as you age, are being culled. I don’t know how to say this any stronger. They will die. They actually shrivel up and go away. And lastly, take psychedelics. Take them often. Take them in different contexts. Take smaller doses more frequently, but take large doses every once in a while too. Studies have shown that serotonin agonists, basically the psychedlics, stimulate dendritic sprouting the same way learning new tasks does. Why does this happen? Probably because the serotonin 2A receptor is mostly excitatory, which increases the action potential of the cell, causing the cell body, when it has it’s 2A receptors activated to fire electrical signals more often. Psychedelics cause neurons to fire that don’t normally fire without them. Neurons are involved in sensing but also interpreting. Feeling but also thinking and integrating. Like exercise and blood flow, like forcing yourself to learn new things, psychedelics force you to feel, interpret and think new things. They strengthen and increase neural connections. And they also help you learn non-attachment. There’s nothing like having your mind and identity blown open from a challenging LSD or psilocybin trip to get you to see things differently and stop clinging to who you think you are what you think you need. These challenges can be frightening, but if you move through them and don’t resist them, you just might learn that you are not your thoughts or emotions, or your memories. And you don’t need anything. You are the pure consciousness that exists behind all of that. Could that be why Sasha Shulgin was not afraid, despite his mind’s early departure? Rest In Peace Sasha. And hang in there mom. I want to come visit you when this pandemic is over. Thanks for listening everyone. And don’t forget to email me at drugpositive@gmail.com and tell me if you liked this new format. Should I do more episodes like this? They sure are a lot easier. I just write and then go back and read it while recording. Six hours rather than 30 hours to produce an episode. Seriously, I want to hear from you. And finally, this episode is dedicated to my mom, obviously, but also Cody Jones, Victoria Clemente, Cheryl Ananda, Becky Krug, Casey Hardison, Eric Martin, and Greg, Lorie and Marigold… You should all know why. Much love.

This episode we continue our hangout time.. Let's Hang!! We continue last weeks journey into the deep conversations of one of the great ones...Terrence McKenna. In the second part of these great discussions, Terrence interviews in 1992 some very interesting people; Ken Ring, Jill Purce, Sasha Shulgin, David Whyte, and Rupert Sheldrake.. Wow! Let's listen together and really dig deep into some of the things touched on in these dialogues.. Some of the greatest interviews ever...Join Us!! www.midnightonearth.com See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

On Thursday August 6th, 2020 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a review of William Leonard Pickard's magisterial novelized biography “The Rose of Paracelsus”(2019). This 650 page masterwork is already considered literature by the academic community. Like Mallory's “The Morte de Arthur” “The Rose” was entirely written in prison. It recounts Pickard's academic, scientific, and extra-legal career from the early 1960s until his arrest and subsequent imprisonment in 2000. It is beautifully written, fast paced and well structured. It is subtitled “On Secrets and Sacraments” which aptly describes what it delivers. Pickard was not only a psychedelic alchemist, he was also an intelligence asset (say researcher) for the Ivy League think tanks and indirectly for government agents. So conspiracy theory and even UFO buffs will be pulling quotes from The Rose for the next decade. Pickard connected with an international network of psychedelic alchemists and visited each in a world tour that reads like a James Bond adventure. Returning to the U.S. he visited his mentor the venerable psychedelic sage, Sasha Shulgin, who warned him against a demonic cultist who inhabited an abandoned underground missile base used for an LSD laboratory and an orgiastic temple. But like a character in a Richard Shaver or Sax Rohmer story Leonard Pickard was lured into this hellish underworld where psychedelics were used to en-slave and abuse young women.And because this cult had better government connections than Pickard, he was set up to take the rap for their criminal activities. He was given two life sentences in Federal Prison. Fortunately he has just been released and we hope he will be listening to this broadcast. So. Turn on, Tune in, and learn what's under the rose.  

Professor Thomas B. Roberts returns to discuss the new anthology he edited:  Psychedelics and Spirituality:  The Sacred Use of LSD, Psilocybin, and MDMA for Human Transformation, 3rd Ed.    In this book, more than 25 spiritual leaders, scientists, and psychedelic visionaries examine how we can return to the primary spiritual encounters at the basis of all religions working with entheogens.  This groundbreaking work contains contributions form Albert Hofmann, Huston Smith, Stanislav Grof, Charles Tart, Sasha Shulgin, Brother David Steindl-Rast, and many others. Professor Roberts earned his Ph.D. from Stanford and taught for many years at Northern Illinois University.  He taught the world's first and longest running catalog listed psychedelics course beginning in 1981.  Professor Roberts is a founding member of MAPS, and former visiting scientist at Johns Hopkins.  He originated the celebration of Bicycle Day. His full CV can be found here:  https://www.innertraditions.com/author/thomas-b-roberts or here:  https://www.amazon.com/Thomas-B.-Roberts-Ph.D./e/B00MD4IUXA%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share This new anthology can be purchased here from the publisher Inner Traditions:  https://www.innertraditions.com/author/thomas-b-roberts Cover art for this podcast "MerKabala" provided by the awesome The Ungoogleable Michaelangelo.  More information about this denzien and information about his many works can be found here:  https://www.theungoogleable.com/ This podcast is available on your favorite podcast platform, or here:  https://endoftheroad.libsyn.com/episode-133-professor-thomas-roberts-the-anthology-of-psychedelics-and-spiritualitysacramentsthe-intersection-of-entheogens-and-religion Have a great weekend!

This week’s guest is author, culture critic, and philosopher of the weird Erik Davis, whose work has been one of my main inspirations for almost ten years. His latest work of epic scholarship, High Weirdness: Drugs, Esoterica, and Visionary Experience in the Seventies, is an exploration of topics I presumed inaccessible to academic inquiry so masterful I’ve been evangelizing it for months and basically forced a copy on my boss (David Krakauer, President of the Santa Fe Institute, who was a guest in Episode 75). In this episode we peer into the intersection of psychedelics, madness, systems science, postmodernism, and religious studies to ask about the truly other that refuses to allow us a clean answer to the questions, “What is the Real?” and “Did that just really happen?” Strap in for one of the headiest and most important conversations that we’ve ever had on Future Fossils…Join the Future Fossils Podcast Patreon for exclusive perks like an extra 10 minutes of this conversation, in which Erik & Michael discuss “black goo.”Visit Erik’s website to sign up for his email updates (always wonderful) and stay abreast of upcoming events, such as his talk at the SF Psychedelic Society on Thursday Dec 19.Get a copy of High Weirdness at MIT Press.Erik’s appearance on Future Fossils Episode 99 (a kind of prequel to this conversation).My 2011 and 2012 appearances on Erik’s podcast, Expanding Mind.Erik and I discuss over video chat (part 1, part 2) the revised and expanded third edition of his book Techgnosis: Myth, Magic, and Mysticism in the Age of Information.Shop through my Amazon storefront and support the show indirectly with your purchases:https://amazon.com/storefront/michaelgarfieldJoin the Future Fossils Facebook Discussion Grouphttps://facebook.com/groups/futurefossilsShow music by Evan “Skytree” Snyder feat. Michael Garfield, “God Detector”https://skytree.bandcamp.com/track/god-detector-ft-michael-garfieldMentioned:Jacques Lacan. Mark Fisher. Carol Cusack. Eric Wargo. Timothy Morton. Graham Harman. Jeff Kripal. Emelie Gomar. Bruno Latour. Albert Hofmann. Sasha Shulgin. Richard Doyle. Williiam James. Phil Dick. Cesar Hidalgo. Rachel Armstrong. Edward Snowden. Daniel Paul Schraber. We Discuss:The abyss is close to home.“The real, by definition, is not amenable to symbolization. Whatever kind of yen we have to sustain the symbolic in the face of the real is going to fail. And in that sense, the real is fundamentally traumatic.”Perturbations of the reality field.Extimacy.“That’s not me…or if it is, I’m not me anymore.”Refusing to remain within the purely human. To lean out. To open a portal.The Weird vs. The Uncanny.Fiction vs. Religion.“In some sense Burning Man and the spirituality of Burning Man, if you want to call it that – the invention of new subjectivities, the development of an ecstatic culture at this end stage of capitalism and modern mythology – in a way is a kind of later iteration of the things I saw in the 70s.”Material agency in the practice of science. “Science is not practiced by humans alone.” “Drugs as active participants in the enactment of their effects.”“The thing about thinking is that sometimes it’s really clear the way you are actively putting things together, or actively exploring. But then sometimes it seems as if you are almost kind of taken over by an idea, and then the idea has stuff it wants to do, and you are just the connector or vehicle for it. What it means to think is to be in relationship to enigmas that have things to say.”“With reductionism in general, it’s very difficult to explain novelty.”“A psychedelic compound sitting on the shelf is not psychedelic. It’s in the interaction that you explore and discover its phenomenological features.”“There’s no way out of environmental effects in the psychedelic experience - both in the set and setting, and in terms of whatever mysterious multiplicities lie in the material itself. So there’s no way to do capital S Science with psychedelics, despite the fact that they are material molecules that reliably have a certain kind of metabolic arc and can be explained in terms of how they are broken down in the body and even light up certain regions or the brain, etc., etc. I think it’s kind of wonderful. But I think that’s where the weird is: the weird is in that. The weird is in the way you can’t get out of the loop.”Psychogenic Networks and Maximal Entropy Production.“If attention is the fuel, then everywhere we turn, we’re producing self-fulfilling prophecies.”Living Fictions.Weird Studies Episode 36.Lachmann et al. 1999 re: Optimal Encoding & Fermi’s Paradox & “The symbols of the divine first emerge in the trash stratum.”“The revelation is always relativized. Once we’re in this cybernetic situation, then not only do we not know, ‘Is that noise or is that signal?,’ but even when you do get a message, you don’t get to know. Because you’ve knocked out that realm of certainty that in the past said, ‘What you’re thinking is true.’”“Now we get to see what it looks like when the symbolic order, consensus reality, breaks down, melts, mutiplies, becomes weaponized, and we try to make our way through that. And it’s not so fun. It’s not so pretty. It’s not so groovy.”Psychonautics as preparation for the insane world we now live in, where the weird has mainstreamed. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Support Lorenzo on Patreon.com Guest speakers: Tania and Greg Manning PROGRAM NOTES: This lecture was recorded live in the salon on October 21, 2019. Today’s podcast features what I hope will be the first of many more visits with Tania and Greg Manning. In addition to assisting Sasha Shulgin during the final years of his […]

LISTEN: APPLE  | SPOTIFY | STITCHER | YOUTUBE   If You Enjoy This Show Please Subscribe and Give Us a 5-Star Rating ★★★★★ and Review on Apple Podcasts | Donate On Patreon or PayPal Lorenzo Hagerty is many things. He is the host of the Psychedelic Salon podcast, a Former Attorney, U.S. Naval officer, electrical engineer, entrepreneur, innovator, motivational speaker, corporate geek. Since 2005, Lorenzo Hagerty has been podcasting interviews and talks concerning the use and benefits of psychoactive plants and chemicals, both in their natural settings and in medical research institutions. Past speakers include Sasha Shulgin, Annie Oak, Rick Doblin, Daniel Pinchbeck, Shonagh Home, Bruce Damer, Aldous Huxley and others. And there have been over 200 programs featuring talks by Terence McKenna. Also interviews with several of the now long gone elders, such as Gary Fisher, Myron Stolaroff, and Al Hubbard have also been featured. Connect With Lorenzo: Psychedelic Salon: https://apple.co/2JBxq6F Personal Website: https://bit.ly/2HkxlTd Podcast Website: https://bit.ly/2WIE5zD Facebook Group: https://bit.ly/2YrNFXV Twitter: @psychedelicLozo | https://bit.ly/2VoCxcm Vimeo: https://bit.ly/2YtOPSY YouTube: https://bit.ly/2vWQKDd Reddit: https://bit.ly/2vY51je Amazon: https://amzn.to/2HBhSNJ Essays on Matrix Masters: https://bit.ly/2VDt5qy Palenque Norte: https://bit.ly/2VZZNC5 Steemit: https://bit.ly/2WK8bTh    Other appearances: The Joe Rogan Experience: https://bit.ly/2WLquro The Aware project: https://bit.ly/2JjQSp0 On Erowid: https://bit.ly/2JFKhVl Third Eye Drops Podcast: https://bit.ly/2E7BfNi   Connect With Mike and Support Mikeadelic    If You Enjoy This Show Please Subscribe and Share  Show Your Love & Help Spread The Message Leave a 5-Star Rating ★★★★★ and Review on Apple Podcasts.https://apple.co/2IyVW8 Support The Show On Patreon for as little as $1 a month. Get access to weekly bonus content, stickers, T-shirts, and more great rewards like the private Whatsapp chat group: The Mikeadelic Inner Sanctum  1. Become A Patron: https://bit.ly/2ZoPyGc  2. Make A One-Time Donation On PayPal: https://bit.ly/2XyO2Q0   Connect With Mike: Website: https://bit.ly/2GqH7kX Email/ContactMe: https://bit.ly/2Dsv2v4 Facebook: https://bit.ly/2XCchg7 Instagram: @mikeadelic_podcast |  https://bit.ly/2Pqc50B Twitter: https://bit.ly/2IwIhik   Listen Everywhere: Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2Vf2RKf Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2W8w72c GooglePlay: https://bit.ly/2PlJiKG Stitcher: https://bit.ly/2DrRnc6 YouTube: https://bit.ly/2IzMz8I Twitter: https://bit.ly/2IwIhik   Also Available on Podbean, Speaker, Breaker, Tunein, Castro, I heart radio, Overcast, Soundcloud and everywhere podcasts are found  Subscribe to the Inner Sanctum Monthly Newsletter  https://bit.ly/2GqH7kX   Thank You Intro Music Provided by Danny Barnett & Galaxia:  https://bit.ly/2XB3sDr Second intro music mash-up by MUSE. https://www.muse.mu/   Sponsored By: Psychedelics Today  Get Their amazingly comprehensive and educational course Navigating Psychedelics:  https://bit.ly/2CLG0LF Hemp Bombs High Potency CBD Products enter code Mike15 at checkout for 15% off https://bit.ly/2Gr68MT SYNCHRO Plant-Based & Keto Nutrition enter code Mikeadelic at checkout for 20% off https://bit.ly/2XCS2in        

What can we learn from visionary artists, therapeutic psychedelic researchers, dream clinic operators and Tibetan monks about what lies beyond our day-to-day experience of reality? Can drugs like MDMA and LSD help to cure victims suffering from PTSD and alcoholism? Did prophets of old posses differing physiologies than ours due to less artificial light? Did this allow them to experience reality in a different way than we do today? What is the third eye and can it be healed/improved? Are there predicable stages the soul or consciousness experiences after death? Is it possible to overcome your fear by "dying before you die" so that you can finally truly live? Questions like these have driven writer and neuroscience researcher David Jay Brown to explore the edges of consciousness research. In the search for answers, he's interviewed Stephen Hawking, Timothy Leary, Terence McKenna, Robert Anton Wilson, Noam Chomsky, Ram Dass, Albert Hoffman, Jack Kevorkian, George Carlin, Sasha Shulgin, Deepak Chopra, Alex Grey, Jerry Garcia, Stanislav Grof and John Lilly. David's personal, consciousness research projects have included work on deep-brain stimulation, lucid dreaming as well as co-authoring the book, "Detox with Oral Chelation". In a content-filled hour, we explore all these topics as well as David's most recent book "Women of Visionary Art". Who Gnows? info: Review us on iTunes and subscribe to receive updates on future episodes. Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/WhoGnows/ For more on David Jay Brown: Website: http://davidjaybrown.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/David-Jay-Brown-115740098445882/ Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/David-Jay-Brown/e/B001K8SEM2

Episode 39 of the MAPS podcast features yet another exclusive interview with one of the great thinkers of the modern psychedelic revolution, James Oroc. Our conversation with James takes us on a journey through his highly evolved insights, opinions and experiences on topics ranging from 5-MEO DMT, the re-birth of LSD, Sasha Shulgin and the culture wars that are present throughout the 21st Century consciousness expansion movement. James is one of the most unique voices within the new wave of psychedelic consciousness and his wisdom, humor and conviction are a necessary ingredient for the future. Intro: Remembering Ralph Metzner James Oroc - Journalist, photographer, and artist James Oroc was born in the small South Pacific nation of Aotearoa. Since 1998 he has been pursuing and reporting on the cutting edge of extreme sports in more than 40 countries around the globe, his work appearing in magazines, films, and on MTV Sports. He has been a member of the Burning Man community since 1999, and he is also involved in the documentation and advancement of “Alternative Culture.” Oroc resides in the Dominican Republic. 

Download In this episode of Psychedelics Today we interview Emanuel Sferios, founder of DanceSafe and host of the new Drug Positive Podcast. The discussion mainly revolves around what "drug positive" means, MDMA, and harm reduction. 3 Key Points: The history of MDMA is different than we have been taught. MDMA is quite safe and the harms are very low. Risk reduction is a more appropriate term at times.  Emanuel is positive that his early drug experiences substantially helped improve his life. Show Notes There is an largely unknown history of MDMA. Sasha Shulgin apparently was not the first to synthesize it in the modern era. He created a new synthesis method. MDMA was the first designer drug in a sense. MDA became illegal and chemists decided to change the molecule Manuel Noriega of Panama used MDMA at least once and gave permission to some chemists to manufacture in Panama shortly before the US invasion. Harms from MDMA are quite minimal and small. Parents who have lost a child can be natural allies to the drug positive movement. Best practices for drug testing MDMA and Cocaine. It is going to be really hard to convince the public to legalize drugs other than cannabis.   About Emanuel Sferios Emanuel Sferios is an activist, educator and harm reduction advocate. Founding DanceSafe in 1998 and starting the first laboratory pill analysis program for ecstasy users that same year (now hosted at Ecstasydata.org), Emanuel pioneered MDMA harm reduction services in the United States. His MDMA Neurochemistry Slideshow has been viewed over 30 million times and remains a primary educational resource for physicians, teachers, drug abuse prevention counselors and MDMA users alike. Emanuel resigned from DanceSafe in 2001 and went on to work in other areas of popular education and harm reduction. He has recently come back as a volunteer. Oh! And he’s making a movie. Links Drug Positive Independent - Meet the Man Who Wants your to Him him Legalise MDMA DanceSafe - Wiki DanceSafe MDMA The Movie  

From his early days of college activism, to decades of ecological stewardship, to Buddhism and then to psychedelics, Allan Badiner has had a colorful and impactful life. Allan is an important figure in the worlds of psychedelic exploration, Western Buddhism, and rainforest activism. He is the editor of Zig Zag Zen: Buddhism and Psychedelics and a 25-year board member of the Rainforest Action Network. In our latest Psychedelic Times Podcast, Allan speaks with Joe Mattia about his unconventional introduction to psychedelics, his awakening in a Buddhist monastery, and many other fascinating stories and insights. Sponsors: California Institute of Integral Studies Center for Psychedelic Therapies and Research CIIS created the Center for Psychedelic Therapy and Research (the Center) in 2015 to address the demand for trained psychotherapists to work in the expanding field of psychedelic studies. The Center is directed by clinical psychologist Dr. Janis Phelps, who is also a professor in the East-West Psychology program. Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps Dr. Bronner’s Dr. Bronner’s was founded in 1948 by Emanuel Bronner, a third- generation master soapmaker. He used the labels on his superb ecological soaps to spread his message that we must realize our unity across religious & ethnic divides or perish: “We are All-One or None!” Still family-owned and run, Dr. Bronner’s honors its founder’s vision by continuing to make socially & environmentally responsible products, and by dedicating our profits to help make a better world. Show Notes: Early days of college activism [10:00] Infiltrating Hollywood [13:00] Leaving Hollywood for India [15:00] First visit to a Buddhist monastery in Sri Lanka [16:25] Becoming friends with Terence McKenna [21:00] Connecting to Nature [28:30] Interviewing Buddhism teachers for Zig Zag Zen [31:30] CIIS Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy program [33:30] Esalen and psychedelics [37:45] Cannabis’ history as a medicine in the US and India [44:15] Foods and spices that are also cannabinoids [52:30] The importance of psychedelic integration [54:30] Selected Quotes: On Allan’s introduction to psychedelics: “My interest in Buddhism is what brought me to psychedelics. Usually it's the other way around for people.” On his first stay at a Buddhist monastery: “So I went to a monastery in Sri Lanka in the mountains and I hated it; it was awful. It was just unbearable. The bed was basically a board and a thin blanket and there were bugs everywhere… I thought if I could just run out of here I would, but you had to book a week in advance to have a car come get you… About a day or so before I was supposed to be done there, I had an unbelievable experience. I just woke up to being different in so many ways. I looked at the dirt and I thought that’s not nothing, that’s Earth. The bugs were my friends. I felt this connection with them because they were alive. I woke up to no pain- all my joints had been bothering me before that. It was painless, and beyond that it was joyful, and I felt a connection and a profound sense of gratitude and joy to be alive. Everywhere I looked I was in awe. It was this amazing consciousness rebirth of some kind.”   On Terence McKenna giving him psilocybin: “Terence [McKenna] did effectively treat me with psilocybin. That really came close to the Sri Lanka experience; it’s the closest I’ve been. It was my first psychedelic experience, and it came right at a time where I met Sasha Shulgin and would go to his Friday night dinners.”  On connecting with Nature and activism: “One of the insights from the Sri Lanka experience was a connection to Nature, a connection to other beings- animals, bugs even. I felt that there was a strong connection between my own bliss and the connection that I had with other living beings. So that motivated me to get involved as an activist in preserving the life-giving systems of the planet and other species. I took that very seriously… I got to know the people at Rainforest Action Network… and they invited me to come work for them. I did and joined their board, and I’ve been on their board ever since. It’s been really an important part of my life to have that work going on and keep me in awareness of connection with other beings.” On interviewing Buddhist teachers about psychedelics: “In preparing for this book that I decided to do on Buddhism and psychedelics called Zig Zag Zen, I interviewed just about every well known American-born teacher of Buddhism about their previous experience with psychedelics, if they had any… and all of them did! It was ubiquitous- from Jack Kornfield to Joseph Goldstein, all of these teachers had a psychedelic experience or several prior to becoming involved in Buddhism. Jack Kornfield, for instance, openly said that he wouldn't even be a Buddhist teacher if he had not taken LSD- he wouldn't have been able to understand what they call ‘against the grain ideas’ that challenge fundamental assumptions that we make in Western society.” Allan also shared a beautiful quote at the end of the podcast from Dr. Albert Hofmann, who discovered LSD: “Alienation from nature and the loss of the experience of being part of the living creation is the greatest tragedy of our materialistic era. It is the causative reason for ecological devastation and climate change. Therefore I attribute absolute highest importance to consciousness change. I regard psychedelics as catalyzers for this. They are tools which are guiding our perception toward other deeper areas of our human existence, so that we again become aware of our spiritual essence. Psychedelic experiences in a safe setting can help our consciousness open up to this sensation of connection and of being one with nature. LSD and related substances are not drugs in the usual sense, but are part of the sacred substances, which have been used for thousand of years in ritual settings. The classic psychedelics like LSD, Psilocybin and Mescaline are characterized by the fact that they are neither toxic nor addictive. It is my great concern to separate psychedelics from the ongoing debates about drugs, and to highlight the tremendous potential inherent to these substances for self-awareness, as an adjunct in therapy, and for fundamental research into the human mind. It is my wish that a modern Eleusis will emerge, in which seeking humans can learn to have transcendent experiences with sacred substances in a safe setting. I am convinced that these soul-opening, mind-revealing substances will find their appropriate place in our society and our culture.” -Dr. Albert Hoffman in 2007 (at age 101) Explore Links Related to this Podcast: Esalen institute Zig Zag Zen: Buddhism and Psychedelics Rainforest Action Network CIIS Psychedelic-Assisted Therapies and Research Program International Cannabinoid Research Society Psychedelic Integration Workshop at Esalen

How was MDMA invented? Who came up with the idea to add a methyl group to MDA, the "hug drug" of the 1960s?  Forget the irrelevant Merck patent of 1913. We found the person who "thought up" MDMA as a recreational drug. In 1975, on a hunch, Carl R. suggested to Sasha Shulgin that they methylate MDA. Later that Summer, they made a batch of MDMA together in a UC Berkeley laboratory, and Carl and his girlfriend were the first people on the planet (that we know of) to try it. This is part 2 of the secret history of MDMA, and this is the first time Carl tells his story to the world. Carl in 1975 Carl in 2018

When you boost energy through your system via breathwork, movement, myofascial release, or anything else, you have more juice going through your circuits and it tends to disclose more information about where you're impeded. So, ecstasis constantly shows you two things: your sort of highest potential, the way you ought to be or the way the world could be and it also shows you where you're broken. It's like an electrician running juice through a circuit and discovering you've blown fuse. - Jamie Wheal It's the biggest revolution you've never heard of, and it's hiding in plain sight. Over the past decade, some of the highest performers in the world have been harnessing rare and controversial states of consciousness to solve critical challenges and outperform the competition. JOIN THE FACEBOOK GROUP | REVIEW THIS PODCAST  20% OFF ORGANIFI - USE CODE: WELLNESSFORCE In Wellness Force Radio episode 209, leading expert on the neurophysiology of human performance, Co-Author of Best-seller Stealing Fire, and Executive Director of Flow Genome Project, Jamie Wheal, shares why the "Altered States Economy" has now grown to over 4 billion dollars and what that means for our collective future. Learn how these states unlock how we can become a stronger Promethean, why hedonism is naturally wired within you, and what 80-20 "Woke to Broke" really is. After practicing meditation, doing yoga, or using psychedelics to illicit personal growth or flow state, do you ever feel like something is still missing from within? Learn why the integration process is so vital when altering your mental state and how you can achieve greater balance through hedonic calendaring. "Let's not chase one more peak experience or shiny thing that we believe is going to give us all the happiness that we want. Many believe that if we can only get there, then life is forever easy but life isn't like that." - Jamie Wheal of @FlowGenome http://bit.ly/wfpodcast   Get your copy of Stealing Fire by Steven Kotler and Jamie Wheal today It’s the biggest revolution you’ve never heard of, and it’s hiding in plain sight. Over the past decade, Silicon Valley executives like Eric Schmidt and Elon Musk, Special Operators like the Navy SEALs and the Green Berets, and maverick scientists like Sasha Shulgin and Amy Cuddy have turned everything we thought we knew about high-performance upside down. Instead of grit, better habits, or 10,000 hours, these trailblazers have found a surprising shortcut. They're harnessing rare and controversial states of consciousness to solve critical challenges and outperform the competition. New York Times bestselling author Steven Kotler and high performance expert Jamie Wheal spent four years investigating the leading edges of this revolution—from the home of SEAL Team Six to the Googleplex, the Burning Man festival, Richard Branson’s Necker Island, Red Bull’s training center, Nike’s innovation team, and the United Nations’ Headquarters. And what they learned was stunning: In their own ways, with differing languages, techniques, and applications, every one of these groups has been quietly seeking the same thing: the boost in information and inspiration that altered states provide. Today, this revolution is spreading to the mainstream, fueling a trillion dollar underground economy and forcing us to rethink how we can all lead richer, more productive, more satisfying lives. Driven by four accelerating forces—psychology, neurobiology, technology, and pharmacology—we are gaining access to and insights about some of the most contested and misunderstood terrain in history. Stealing Fire is a provocative examination of what’s actually possible; a guidebook for anyone who wants to radically upgrade their life.   Listen To Episode 209 As Jamie Wheal Uncovers: How the world began to look at altered states of consciousness and the essential history of it. How we can become a stronger Promethean through altered states. The altered states of economy and how we use various sources to shift our state of mind.  How hedonism is naturally wired within us.  Why respiration, embodied cognition, and sexuality are mind altering tools that are the least susceptible to corruption and/or repression. Two things mind altering tools and practices can do: show you your highest potential and where you're broken. Whether or not a practice like holotropic breathing can help boost our energy and heal us. All these little experiences and peak states that can help us fix most things that are going on within our minds. How we can properly use psychedelics to help us overcome this constant stimulation that's always around us. The statistics of the population taking psychedelics as far as who should take them and when. Why we should be cautious with psychedelic usage and other minder altering practices because they might open some doors that should have been closed. Why attending a mass amount of Ayahuasca series will not lead you to what you're seeking because you have not integrated what you've experienced during them to your actual life. The increase in the amount of super virus via medicine because of the vast amount of antibiotics that doctors give to patients. The vital importance of the integration process while using psychedelics and experiencing altered states. What we're missing when it comes to altered states as far as integration and service. 80-20 Woke to Broke - How we become 20% satisfied with something but then spend 80% of our time chasing the high we get from that natural 20% Daily or weekly, positive practices such as breathing or clean eating that you can plan through hedonic calendering that allow you to naturally indulge without psychedelics. How he sees himself as a servant of God by trying to be a good father, husband, and leader in his organization. Monogamy vs Polyamory vs. Hierogamy relationships and whether or not we're using communion as a route to transcendence or not. Power Quotes From The Show "Ecstasis constantly shows you two things: your highest potential and where you're broken. It's like an electrician running juice through a circuit and discovering you've blown a fuse" - Jamie Wheal of @FlowGenome http://bit.ly/wfpodcast "The whole 80-20 "Woke to Broke" is this idea that you get 80% bang for your buck on ecstatic technologies with the first 20% of your involvement. However, because that first 20% feels so amazingly rewarding, most people just continue going and then they invest 80% of their time and money to chasing the long tail of the 20% which can go on forever; you're never going to get there but you can chase it forever." - Jamie Wheal "We can see 80% 'Woke' as being good enough and it might be all that we ever get to presume and 20% 'Broke' is the human experience. Let's be open and be fully awake to that. Let's not chase one more journey, one more peak experience, or one more bauble, blinky, shiny thing that we tell ourselves is going to give us all the money, love, and happiness that we want. So many people believe that if we can only get there, then life is forever effortless and easy but life isn't like that." - Jamie Wheal "Most people pinball between indulgence and guilt-ridden abstinence. They have an un-integrated relationship to their ecstatic practices and it often gets a lot of cultural baggage and programming. So, hedonic calendaring allows for positive, foundational practices rather than stressing over thoughts of 'Should I or shouldn't I?'" - Jamie Wheal    Links From Today's Show Jamie Wheal LinkedIn Facebook Flow Genome Project Facebook Twitter Instagram Vimeo YouTube Stealing Fire by Steven Kotler and Jamie Wheal Flow Genome Project Closed Facebook Group Democratize Nirvana SEALFIT 20X | A DEEPER WHY | One Man's Journey | Physical & Emotional Intelligence Your Brain on Porn by Gary Wilson Rock Tape Paul Stamets on The Joe Rogan Experience Gil Hedley: Fascia and stretching: The Fuzz Speech Stanislav "Stan" Grof The Wim Hof Method Joe Rogan talks AYAHUASCA & DMT Natural Stacks: Psychedelic Researcher Rick Doblin on Treating PTSD with MDMA Ram Dass WFR 086 Mark Divine About Jamie Wheal Jamie Wheal, Executive Director of Flow Genome Project and Co-Author of Stealing Fire is a leading expert on the neurophysiology of human performance. His work ranges from Fortune 500 companies like Cisco, Google, and Nike, to the U.S. Naval War College and Red Bull. He combines a background in expeditionary leadership, wilderness medicine, and surf rescue, with over a decade advising high-growth companies on strategy, execution, and leadership. He speaks to diverse and high-performing communities such as Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO), Summit Series, and MaiTai Global on the intersection of science and high performance. At the Flow Genome Project, he leads a team of the world’s top scientists, athletes, and artists dedicated to mapping the genome of the peak-performance state known as Flow. He lives on the Colorado River with his wife Julie, their two kids Lucas and Emma, and a righteous Golden Retriever named Cassie.     Get More Wellness In Your Life Join the WFR Community on facebook Send Josh Trent a personal message Tweet me on Twitter: Send us a fun tweet (or a what's up) Comment on the Facebook page Sign up to get an email alert whenever we release a new episode Support This Podcast Leave a 5 star review on iTunes Share this episode with someone you care about Contact Wellness Force Radio for podcast sponsorship and partnership opportunities Rate & Review Wellness Force ---> REVIEW THE PODCAST Ask A Live Question For The Next Episode ---> Click here to leave a voicemail directly to Josh Trent to be read live on the air.  You May Also Like These Episodes Food Freedom Forever With Melissa Hartwig Nir Eyal: Breaking Bad Habits, Technology Addiction, & Emotional Triggers Healthy, Happy & Harder To Kill w/ Steph Gaudreau of Stupid Easy Paleo Beyond Meditation: How To Get A Better Brain With Ariel Garten Living A Healthy Lifestyle In A Modern World With Dan Pardi Creating A Life Worth Living With Michael Strasner   Join the Wellness Force Newsletter: www.wellnessforce.com/news Don't miss next week's show: Subscribe and stay updated Did you like this show on Ketosis? Rate and review Wellness Force on iTunes You read all the way to the bottom? That's what I call love! Write to me and let me know what you'd like to have to get more wellness in your life.  

En nuestra saga de drogas es turno del éxtasis del éxtasis, del MDMA o molly. Es la droga de las fiestas rave, la droga de la botellita de agua, la droga del amor. Entramos en el terreno de las drogas de diseñador. Estas no están en la naturaleza. Son creadas por un químico en un laboratorio y eran el terror máximo de los héroes de principios de los 90. Como siempre, conversamos de su forma de funcionar, efectos y aspectos nocivos, para finalmente pasar a la historia de esta droga. Contamos sus orígenes. Su inicio como una droga de diván, para usar en psicoanálisis. Se usaba de forma no controlada. Luego fue descubierta por un emprendedor que la vendió hasta el cansancio, avivando a las autoridades y matando a la gallina de los huevos de oro. Cerramos el episodio con la historia de Sasha Shulgin, uno de los hombres más importantes en la historia de esta molécula y un investigador de esta familia de drogas. El tema le gustaba tanto que descubrió 230 compuestos psicoactivos distintos. Música, en orden de aparición: - El tema de la Tortulia es una versión de Caravan por Oleg Zobachev. El tema original es de Duke Ellington.

Casey William Hardison is an entheogenic activist and psychedelic chemist who most famously known for getting busted making LSD In the U.K. and defending himself in court, by acting as his own lawyer during his trial.  Instead of arguing he did not commit the acts, he argued that--as long as he harmed no one--he had the human right to engage in his chosen entheogenic praxis. Casey stood for cognitive liberty and freedom of thought and continues to do so to this day.  During his trial, Casey challenged the drug laws as a discriminatory affront to free thought, therapeutic choice and free religion. The trial judge rejected these arguments and an eight-week trial ensued after which Casey was convicted on March 18, 2005 on 6 of 8 counts and sentenced to 20 years imprisonment on April 22, 2005.  Aside from being known for being kidnapped by men with guns for partaking in a peaceful loving activity, Casey has attended entheogen-related conferences, wrote articles for the MAPS Bulletin, The Entheogen Review, and contributed to Erowid.  Casey is a freedom fighter of the highest order of love and light.  Extensive show notes and links are below.  if you enjoy this show please leave a 5-star rating and review on iTunes. You can also support this how for as little as $1 a month at www.patreon.com/mikebranc   FYI - I kind of went off the rails and ranted in anger about Sessions, Trump and the war on drugs in the begining of this episode for a about 20 minutes. You can skip ahead if you want to get to the interview.   Thank you!  #M I N D R I G H T S Show Notes and Links:   Eroded Vault- Casey William Harrison: https://erowid.org/culture/characters/hardison_casey/   Erowid:  erowid.org   Burning Man: https://burningman.org/   Maps MDMA: http://www.maps.org/research/mdma   Psychedelic Science: http://psychedelicscience.org/   The Beckley foundation:  http://beckleyfoundation.org/   Amanda Fielding: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanda_Feilding   William Blake: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/3679-if-the-doors-of-perception-were-cleansed-every-thing-would     Jung and Alchemy: http://www.carl-jung.net/alchemy.html   Remembering Nick Sand - Orange Sunshine LSD Chemist: https://www.psymposia.com/magazine/nick-sand-orange-sunshine-lsd-chemist-dies-75/   Hamilton’s Pharmacopeia: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/tonight-on-viceland-hamiltons-pharmacopeia-lizard-school     The Grateful Dead: http://www.dead.net/     Richard Evans Shultes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Evans_Schultes   MAPS vol 10 # 2 2000: http://www.maps.org/news-letters/v10n2/v10n2.pdf   Pharmacotheon Entheogenic Drugs Their Plant Sources and Histories by Jonathan Ott:   https://www.amazon.com/Pharmacotheon-Entheogenic-Drugs-Sources-Histories/dp/0961423439/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1495210221&sr=8-1&keywords=entheogenic+drugs+their+plant+sources+and+history+-+Jonathan+Ott   Ethnobotany: Evolution of a Discipline By Richard Evans Shultes: https://www.amazon.com/Ethnobotany-Discipline-Richard-Evans-Schultes/dp/0881929727/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1495210285&sr=8-1&keywords=ethnobotany     Ethnobiology Conference: https://ethnobiology.org/conference/upcoming   Mentor, Sasha Shulgin: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Shulgin   https://www.amazon.com/Alexander-Shulgin/e/B000APJGIC/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1495210495&sr=8-1   The amazing 2c-T-7 molecule: https://erowid.org/chemicals/2ct7/2ct7.shtml     Brave New World By Aldous Huxley: https://www.amazon.com/Brave-New-World/dp/B0012QED5Y/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1495210778&sr=8-1&keywords=aldous+huxley+brave+new+world     Erik Davis  Article: https://aeon.co/essays/new-psychedelics-research-is-on-a-knife-edge-of-meaning   Noosphere: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noosphere    Gaia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaia_(mythology)   2-cd molecule: https://erowid.org/chemicals/2cd/2cd.shtml   Center For cognitive liberty & Ethics: http://www.cognitiveliberty.org/     On cognitive liberty part 1,2,3,4 Richard Glen Boire: http://www.cognitiveliberty.org/curriculum/oncoglib_123.htm     The November Coalition:  November.org  - the razor wire - drug war prisoners : http://therazorwire.org/     Drug War Stats: http://www.drugpolicy.org/drug-war-statistics   Benjamin Rush:https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Benjamin_Rush     Thomas Paine: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Paine   cognitive liberty shirt - unlock your mind symbol: http://www.cognitiveliberty.org/tshirts.html   Sylvia Tyson:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Tyson   journal of cognitive liberty - http://www.maps.org/news-letters/v10n2/v10n2.pdf -   Psychedelic Salon: https://psychedelicsalon.com/     The Spirit Of The Internet: https://www.matrixmasters.com/spirit/html/html.html   The Gunners Dream by Pink Floyd - “and no-one kills the children anymore” :  http://www.pink-floyd-lyrics.com/html/the-gunner-dream-final-lyrics.html   Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/casey.william.freeblood     just Google casey LSD: https://www.google.com/search?q=casey+lsd&oq=casey+lsd&aqs=chrome..69i57.1885j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8   Civil Disobedience By Henery David Thoreau  

"Happiness is undervalued in our lives...we value hardwork and success, but none of those are possible without happiness" - Colette Streicher I recently finished reading "Stealing Fire" by Steven Kotler and Jamie Wheal. The book is about "Silicon Valley executives like Eric Schmidt and Elon Musk, Special Operators like the Navy SEALs and the Green Berets, and maverick scientists like Sasha Shulgin and Amy Cuddy have turned everything we thought we knew about high-performance upside down." Within minutes of talking to Colette Streicher, I saw an instant connection to how high performers are using a heightened state of consciousness to up their game to a new level. Colette Streicher moved to the United States from France in 1995. In 2001, she graduated from the University of Houston with a Master’s Degree in Social Work with a specialization in family therapy. Colette currently operates a successful international practice as Peak Performance Coach. For more than 20 years, Colette continually studied many different therapies stemming from the field of Energy Psychology. These studies include EFT with Gary Craig, Thought Field Therapy, Matrix Energetics, Bodytalk, Quantum techniques, Seemorg Matrix as well as many others. In 2013 Colette co-founded a new method in the field of psychology (Manifesting All Possibilities(TM), MAP for short. Through the use of MAP, practitioners are able to create extraordinary results. The method was proven effective to rewire the brain through the use of QEEG technology. MAP is a revolution in the field of psychology as it gets instantaneous results without the use of tapping or even talking. What will you learn in this episode of The Happiness of Pursuit Podcast: >>7 Steps To High-Performance >>The importance of happiness in becoming successful >>Why top athletes and entrepreneurs NEED a business coach >>How to create happiness and reach your goals at lightning speed Go get the complete show notes and all the BONUSES from the show, visit www.douglasjfoley.com/80

https://bengreenfieldfitness.com/stealingfire Steven Kotler is a New York Times bestselling author, an award-winning journalist and the cofounder/director of research for the Flow Genome Project. He first appeared on this podcast in the episode, "", in which he talked about his book "" and explained exactly how to biohack yourself into this state of flow, and how you can tap into this power to achieve amazing feats of physical and mental performance, even if you’re not a “super athlete”. Then, in our second podcast, "", we delved into Steven's book "" Steven presented the contrarian view that exponentially growing technologies and other powerful forces are conspiring to better the lives of billions on our planet, that the gap between the privileged few and hardscrabble majority is closing fast, and that this is drastically affecting human access to everything from water to food, energy, healthcare, education, and freedom. In today's episode, Steven is back to to present the fascinating topics in his new book "". Stealing Fire reveals the biggest revolution you’ve never heard of, and it’s hiding in plain sight. Over the past decade, Silicon Valley executives like Eric Schmidt and Elon Musk, Special Operators like the Navy SEALs and the Green Berets, and maverick scientists like Sasha Shulgin and Amy Cuddy have turned everything we thought we knew about high performance upside down. Instead of grit, better habits, or 10,000 hours, these trailblazers have found a surprising short cut. They're harnessing rare and controversial states of consciousness to solve critical challenges and outperform the competition. Steven Kotler, along with high performance expert Jamie Wheal (Executive Director of Flow Genome Project and a leading expert on the neuro-physiology of human performance), spent four years investigating the leading edges of this revolution: from the home of SEAL Team Six to the Googleplex, the Burning Man festival, Richard Branson’s Necker Island, Red Bull’s training center, Nike’s innovation team, and the United Nations’ Headquarters. And what they learned was stunning: In their own ways, with differing languages, techniques, and applications, every one of these groups has been quietly seeking the same thing: the boost in information and inspiration that altered states provide. Today, this revolution is spreading to the mainstream, fueling a trillion dollar underground economy and forcing us to rethink how we can all lead richer, more productive, more satisfying lives. Driven by four accelerating forces - psychology, neurobiology, technology and pharmacology - we are gaining access to and insights about some of the most contested and misunderstood terrain in history. Stealing Fire is a provocative examination of what’s actually possible; a guidebook for anyone who wants to radically upgrade their life. During the podcast discussion on this episode with Steven and Jamie, you'll discover: -What ecstasis is, and what does it have to do with the SEALs...[7:30] -The ancient, psychedelic, little-known substance called kykeon, and what it has to do with group flow...[11:28] -How the SEALs cut the time it takes to learn a foreign language form six months to six weeks...[18:20] -How meditation practitioners achieve in months what used to take years...[19:05] -Why it is important to be able to shut down your prefontal cortex...[24:30] -The surprising host of actual, measurable chemicals associated with flow state...[27:40] -Why Google is so interested in hiring people who attend Burning Man...[32:45] -For people interested in going to Burning Man, why do you think they should go and what can they expect...[34:35] -How LSD helps people to solve technology problems...[42:40] -How taking mushrooms before church could make church or other religious experiences more meaningful...[47:15] -What you need to know about "The God Helmet"...[50:45] -The big, big problem with Botox...[57:20] -The fascinating tale of how animals use psychedelics to enhance lateral thinking...[61:50] -How entire groups of people in a single room can synchronize their heart rates and brain waves...[65:05] -The shocking impact of music on brainwaves and neurochemicals...[67:50] -A few very important rules to follow if you decide to use psychedelics...[71:25] -And much more... Resources from this episode: - - Do you have questions, thoughts or feedback for Jamie, Steven or me? Leave your comments at  and one of us will reply!

It's the biggest revolution you've never heard of, and it's hiding in plain sight—if you know where to look. High performance expert Jamie Wheal's STEALING FIRE: reveals the widespread use of altered states to achieve ultimate performance. Get Stealing Fire via show links on right. Silicon Valley executives like Eric Schmidt and Elon Musk, the Navy SEALs and the Green Berets, and maverick scientists like Sasha Shulgin and Amy Cuddy have turned everything we thought we knew about high performance upside down. Instead of grit, better habits, or 10,000 hours, these trailblazers have found a surprising short cut. They're harnessing rare and controversial states of consciousness to solve critical challenges and outperform the competition. Kotler and Wheal spent four years investigating the leading edges of this revolution. Today, Jamie shares with you how to can gain this competitive performance advantage. by using a Hedonic calendar and Flow training.

In this week’s episode Neşe Devenot speaks with Joanna about chemical poetics; the Timothy Leary archives; Leary’s “High Priest” and Sasha Shulgin’s “PIHKAL”, reflecting on the meaning of te psychedelic experience; psychedelics and pushing the boundaries of language; the the new science of Ecstatics; nitrous oxide and Romantic poetry; Richard Doyle’s Ecodelics, the revelation of […] The post Other Words from Other Worlds appeared first on Future Primitive Podcasts.

Guest speaker: Sasha Shulgin PROGRAM NOTES: Today’s podcast features a talk given by Sasha Shulgin in 1996. In many ways this is a perfect Shulgin talk for a podcast because he didn’t use any photos or the chalkboard to assist in his presentation. This talk is also one of Sasha’s best presentations as for not […]

Lorenzo Hagerty is an author, podcaster, entrepreneur and liver of many lives (check out his incredibly eclectic bio).  His show, The Psychedelic Salon, offers an extremely comprehensive collection of verbal serenades from disrupters and visionaries like Timothy Leary, the Alex Grey, Sasha Shulgin and many others. It’s definitely one of my go-to sources for brain-melting content. Peruse their library if you haven’t! We've also got the wonderful whimsical genius of Bruce Damer back on the show. Bruce is a researcher at UC Santa Cruz focused on origin of life related work and he’s most definitely got the gift of poetic yarn-spinning and man, does he have plenty of yarns to pull from!  For a full write-up and more, head to THIRDEYEDROPS

Guest speakers: George Greer, John Gilmore, Rick Doblin, Annie Oak PROGRAM NOTES: Today’s podcast features the tributes to Sasha Shulgin that were made at the Palenque Norte lectures during the 2014 Burning Man Festival. In addition to comments from the audience, we hear from Dr. George Greer (MDMA Researcher and Co-founder of the Heffter Research […]

Dr. Sasha Shulgin's passing is celebrated in this talk by Dr. Bruce about a possible future global group overmind made possible in the 2040s by a 'Shulgin Chip'.

Dr. Sasha Shulgin's passing is celebrated in this talk by Dr. Bruce about a possible future global group overmind made possible in the 2040s by a 'Shulgin Chip'.

Guest speaker: Friends of Ann & Sasha Shulgin PROGRAM NOTES: On August 2, 2014, a memorial was held for Sasha Shulgin. In addition to several of the talks that were presented that afternoon, Bruce Damer captured a few sound bites from those in attendance. At the end of the podcast you will also hear a short segment from one of the famous “Ask the Shulgins” conversations. Download MP3 PCs – Right click, select option Macs – Ctrl-Click, select option Pihkal: A Chemical Love Story By Alexander Shulgin, Ann Shulgin Tihkal: The Continuation By Alexander Shulgin, Ann Shulgin The Shulgin Memorial (video) Shulgin on Alchemy, Basel, 2006

The passing of chemist Dr. Alexander 'Sasha' Shulgin, a.k.a. the Godfather of Psychedelics, inspired a discussion on MDMA. Dr. Shuglin perfected MDMA in the 1970s and authored two books about his psychedelic discoveries like 2C-B and DOM. Pauly reminds us about Dr. Shulgin's philosophy on self-experimentation and his message about psychedelics: "Use them with care." Shane and Pauly warn listeners about the wave of severe depression that accompanies heavy usage of MDMA. Shane reveals an affinity for chocolate and Pauly delves into his recent addiction to Two Dots. Shane sounds off the new 'Reefer Madness' in the media and Maureen Dowd's op-ed in NY Times about overdosing on cannabis edibles. Dope Media picks include Finding the Funk documentary, VICE interview with Dr. Sasha Shulgin, and Believer article on the future of marijuana growers in NoCal's Emerald Triangle.

Guest speaker: Sasha Shulgin PROGRAM NOTES: On June 2, 2014 Alexander “Sasha” Shulgin passed on to his next adventure. Although this podcast is a tribute to his life and work, I have decided to let it be told mainly in his own words. First you will hear the audio portion of a video tribute to Ann and Sasha Shulgin. Following that is a short interview of Sasha that was conducted by Terence McKenna. In closing I play the famous talk that Sasha gave at the 1983 Psychedelics and Spirituality Conference. Download MP3 PCs – Right click, select option Macs – Ctrl-Click, select option A Tribute to the Shulgins /*

Caroline hosting psychedelic scholar, author of “Entheogens & the Future of Religion”, mmda researcher at U of Chicago, Robert Forte, that we may honor Sasha Shulgin, as Neptune, Intelligence of Empathic Altruism and entheogenic-mythological literacy stations. The post The Visionary Activist – June 5, 2014 appeared first on KPFA.

Guest speaker: Paul Daley PROGRAM NOTES: Today's podcast features the 2013 Palenque Norte Lecture by Dr. Paul Daley in which he talks about Sasha Shulgin, his life and his work. Paul is one of the key people who has stepped in to consolidate and continue the experimental research begun by Dr. Shulgin. In addition to telling about Sasha's chemical research, Dr. Daley also talks about some of the reasons Sasha has given for why he does what he does. And we also hear about some of the ongoing research taking place in Sasha's laboratory, including research into a possible remedy for cluster headaches. Download MP3 PCs – Right click, select option Macs – Ctrl-Click, select option

Guest speaker: Sasha Shulgin Ways to help the Shulgins For non-tax-deductible contributions, Paypal $ to [annandsashashulgin@comcast.net] or snailmail: Sasha Shulgin, c/o Transform Press, PO Box 13675, Berkeley CA 94712. For tax-deductible online donations to support the completion of Shulgin publishing projects that are underway: http://www.erowid.org/donations/project_shulgin.php Please spread this information. Read the story of a member of our community who needs your help PROGRAM NOTES: In his next to last talk at the legendary Entheobotany Conferences in Palenque, Mexico, Sasha Shulgin holds forth on a host of topics ranging from his experiences in the navy during World War II, to how he first developed an interest in psychedelic chemistry, and on to a description of the processes and protocols he uses to develop new psychoactive compounds. The talk was given in January 2001. Download MP3 PCs – Right click, select option Macs – Ctrl-Click, select option

At the MAPS Psychedelic Science Conference 2010 with experiential journalist Rak Razam: * In perhaps his last public interview, Sasha Shulgin shares his thoughts on the future of psychedelics and the repositioning of 'drugs' in culture; the thrill of the chase in exploring virginal molecular landscapes and bringing back chemical maps; rules for safe ingestion and active levels of compounds... and the revelation of the most potent drug there is... * Carolyn (Adams) Garcia, aka Mountain Girl tells of her time in the boys club of the Merry Pranksters, hanging with Neal Cassady and Ken Kesey, and the gender politics of being the only girl with a motorbike for a thousand miles around La Honda in the early 60s... From the Pranksters to the Grateful Dead, and her marriage to Jerry Garcia, Mountain Girl has always been an integral part of the hippie tribe. Here she reveals the lessons of the infamous Acid Tests, the failure of "group mind", and her advice for women entering the psychedelic scene... * Alex and Allison Grey talk about the entheogenic origins of art and the mystic state of religion; the spiritual renaissance catalyzed by entheogens and a hunger for the transcendent; shamanic art and anchoring energy into this realm; the mapping of hyperspace by a generation of new psychedelic artists, and COSM - the Chapel of Sacred Mirrors and the Grey's mission to create a permanent home for visionary art... Sasha Shulgin pic courtesy Pati Lyall Mountain Girl pic courtesy of Lianne Gillooly Ralph Metzner pic courtesy of the web psychedelic background courtesy of Tim Parish and The Journeybook This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.

Guest speakers: Sasha Shulgin and Alan Watts PROGRAM NOTES: [NOTE: The following quotations are by Sasha Shulgin.] "So I look upon these materials [psychedelics] as being catalytic, not productive, they do not DO what occurs. The allow YOU to express what is in you that you had not had the ability to get to and express yourself without the help of a material." "I find that still the human animal is the only one that is really effective in evaluating and comparing these various psychedelic materials." [In testing a new substance] "You go with great caution. Decide what is the amount is that would have no effect and take one thousandths of that amount." "How does the mind work? What kind of a probe can you make to look at the function of the mind? To me, it's going to be a psychedelic material, that has very little action in experimental animals, to look into actions in man that are not seen in experimental animals." [NOTE: The following quotations are by Alan Watts.] "Nature has mercifully arranged the principle of 'forgettery' as well as the principle of memory. ... And you begin again. You see, it doesn't matter in what form you begin. Whether you begin again as a human being, or as a fruit fly, butterfly, or a beetle, or a bird, it feels the same way that you feel now. So we're really all in the same place." "So the possibility, even the imagination that there could be such an experience [of the end of the world] in the back of our heads, is the background which gives intensity to the sense that we call feeling good, feeling that it's all right." Download MP3 PCs – Right click, select option Macs – Ctrl-Click, select option

Guest speakers: Gary Fisher, Sasha Shulgin, Ann Shulgin, Myron Stolaroff, Baba Ram Das, Timothy Leary, and Terence McKenna PROGRAM NOTES: SASHA SHULGIN: "So I looked upon these materials as being catalytic, not productive, they do not do what occurs, they allow you to express what is in you that you had not had the ability to get into and express yourself without the help of the material." "My main argument for continuing to use the term [psychedelic] is that people may not approve of what you're working in or what you're saying, but at least they know what you're talking about." ANN SHULGIN: "My interest in these compounds is that they let you open up the doors inside your own psyche. They allow things to be more obvious, more apparent than the conscious mind usually lets them be." "The psychedelics, the visionary plants, allow you to do deeper looking and a different kind of learning, because what comes to you is a different sort of knowledge." "The 'shadow work' is, perhaps, the most important use of these materials, as far as I'm concerned, that there is. Because it's in opening up the shadow and discovering it's not a monster, that it's not a terrible, horrible beast, that it is the uncultivated, the unsophisticated and slightly, sometimes, unlawful part of ourselves, which can be one of our greatest allies as long as we can find the courage to do the work necessary to discover it and become one with it and to negotiate with it." "I consider them [psychedelics] basically spiritual tools." BABA RAM DAS: "The place we share is that place that stands nowhere, not the place that's caught in these spirals that involve intellectual advance, or ‘Now we know it!', and so on. That's all like little ripples on the ocean." "The Great Way is not difficult for those who have no preferences. When love and hate are absent, everything becomes clear and undisguised." TIMOTHY LEARY: "…neuro-geography that tells us that where you are determines who you are, habitat determines species." "We are literally at a position where collectively, working in harmony, we can do most of the things, and take the responsibilities, which in the past have been attributed to the great deities of the past. I think the Golden Age is ahead. It's the age of humanist science, humanist technology, pagan science, pagan technology, high tech, high touch." "I think it's our duty as explorers and as frontier scouts for our species to invent new terminology. … I really feel that words are tremendously important. . . . We've got to develop a new terminology. We simply can't use the language that has been around for three or four thousand years because more people have been killed in the name of god that any other word around." TERENCE MCKENNA: "Well somebody once asked me, you know, “Is it dangerous?” And the answer is, only if you fear death by astonishment." “Do not give way to astonishment! Do not abandon yourself to wonder! Get a grip! Try to get a grip, and notice what we're doing! Pay attention!” – this is the mantra: “Pay attention! Pay attention!” "On DMT, these entities – these machine-like, diminutive, shape-shifting, faceted machine elf type creatures that come bounding out of the state – they come bounding out of my stereo speakers, if I have my eyes open – they are like, you know, they are elfin embodiments of syntactical intent. Somehow syntax, which is normally the invisible architecture behind language, has moved into the foreground. And you can see it! I mean, it's doing calisthenics and acrobatics in front of you! It's crawling all over you! And what's happened is that your categories have been scrambled, or something; and this thing which is normally supposed to be invisible and in the background and an abstraction has come forward and is doing handsprings right in front of you. And the thing makes linguistic objects; it sheds syntactical objectification.

Guest speakers: Robert Forte, Ann Shulgin, Sasha Shulgin PROGRAM NOTES: "I think it's extraordinarily important, again, the context of set and setting that we use these drugs in, if we're going to succeed in the Psychedelic Renaissance, is something that needs to be underlined again and again." –Robert Forte "I would say that, arguably, the oldest use of psychedelics in our Western culture, let's say, is the Eleusinian Mysteries, which were a psychedelic drug ceremony that occurred every year for 2,000 years in ancient Greece." –Robert Forte "Using appropriate scientific methodologies and naturalistic observations, [Timothy Leary] showed that psychedelic drugs were safe. He showed their clinical effectiveness. He showed their effects on enhancing creativity." –Robert Forte "Personally, I think my most keen friend amongst the various phenethylamines and alkaloids I've worked with and synthesized has been 2CB. To me, it's a vary favorable, warm, and very comfortable compound." –Sasha Shulgin [MDMA] is the most remarkable insight drug, and is a suburb tool for psychotherapy." –Ann Shulgin "Any drug, including MDMA, the most it can do is open up what's inside you already." –Ann Shulgin "When I have not had a good psychedelic trip for, let's say, six months, I begin to feel that I'm beginning to get out of balance. … I think that instead of regarding psychedelics as a drain on the system, frankly, they are my favorite vitamin. That's the effect they have on me." –Ann Shulgin "And for all I know there are three, or four, or seven lives going on that I don't remember either awake or asleep, but I feel consciousness is my living relationship with the world." –Sasha Shulgin "My belief is that when you get involved in a psychedelic experience you are in a communication with part of yourself that you've given up trying to communicate with or forgotten about communicating with. So it's not something that's imposed by a drug. It's something [that is already there and] the drug allows you to experience and to function with. So I look upon it as being a revealing thing from within myself, rather than a thing imposed upon myself by an external drug." –Sasha Shulgin Download MP3 PCs – Right click, select option Macs – Ctrl-Click, select option Horizons: Perspectives on Psychedelics (2008 Conference) Horizons Conference audio online at the Internet Archive The Center for Cognitive Liberty and Ethics “Ghosts I” from Nine Inch Nails The first 9 tracks from the Ghosts I-IV collection available as high-quality, DRM-free MP3s, including the complete PDF.

Guest speakers: Sasha Shulgin and Terence McKenna PROGRAM NOTES: (Minutes : Seconds into program) 10:09 Sasha Shulgin: "First, I am a very firm believer in the reality of balance in all aspects of the human theater." 11:00 Sasha Shulgin: "One definition of the tools I seek is that they may allow words of a vocabulary, a vocabulary that might allow each human being to more consciously — and more clearly — communicate with the interior of his own mind and psyche. This may be called a vocabulary of awareness." 17:47 Sasha Shulgin: [After a discussion of nuclear weapons.] "And to have such power leads to the threat to use such power, which – in time – will actually lead to its use. But, as I have said earlier, when one thing develops, there seems to spring forth a balancing, a compensatory counterpart. This balance can be realized with the psychedelic drugs. What had been simply tools for the study of psychosis (at best), or for escapist self-gratification (at worst), suddenly assumed the character of tools of enlightenment, and of some form of transcendental communication." 19:24 Sasha Shulgin: "But I feel — along with many others — that the efforts being invested in the technology of destruction does not allow sufficient time. It is possibly only with the psychedelic drugs that words of vocabulary can be established, which might tunnel through the subconscious between the conflicting aspects of the mind and psyche. It is here that I feel my skill lies, and this is exactly why I do what I do." 31:42 Sasha Shulgin: "My personal philosophy might well be lifted directly from Blake: ‘I must create a system, or be enslaved by another man's.' I may be wrong, but I must do what I can. And I will do what I can as fast as I can." 38:44 Terence McKenna: "The shaman is a very peculiar figure. He is critical to the functioning of the psychological and social life of his community, but in a way he is always peripheral to it. He lives at the edge of the village. He is only called upon in matters of great social crisis. He is feared and respected. And this might be a description of these hallucinogenic substances." 40:15 Terence McKenna: "Marcel Eliade took the position that hallucinogenic shamanism was decadent, and Gordon Wasson, very rightly I believe, contravened this view and held that actually it was very probably the presence of the hallucinogenic drug experience in the life of early man that lay the very basis for the idea of the spirit." [NOTE: Graham Hancock's book, Supernatural, provides a detailed investigation of this subject.] 41:46 Terence McKenna: "The traditional manner of taking psilocybin is to take a very healthy dose, in the vicinity of 15 mg. on an empty stomach in total darkness." 44:45 Terence McKenna: "The Logos is a voice heard, in the head. And the Logos was the hand on the rudder of human civilization for centuries, up until, in fact, the collapse of the ancient mystery religions and the ascendancy of Christianity to the status of a world religion." 47:36 Terence McKenna: "It's my belief that one of the unconscious reasons which underlies the odd attitude of the establishment toward hallucinogens is the fact that they bring the mystery to the surface as an individual experience. In other words, you do not understand the psychedelic experience by getting a report from Time magazine or even the Economist. You only understand the psychedelic experience by having it." 49:47 Terence McKenna: "And yet, WE are the culture that is in crisis. When you go to the rain forest you don't find cultures in crisis except to the degree that they are being impacted by us." 50:24 Terence McKenna: "What he [R. Gordon Wasson] discovered, in the mountains of Mexico, was nothing less than Eros, sleeping but alive. The body of Osiris preserved over an entire astrological age, metaphorically speaking. In other words, that to take the mushroom was to transcend the cultural momentum of the past c...